Heart of Gold
by Rose2390
Summary: THUD! Tohru blinked through tears forming in her eyes. The man that had been tightly holding onto her arm was on the ground writhing in pain. She heard another thud and the man next to her was out equally as cold and slammed into the floor. She suddenly registered a new person. A young man dressed in all black with startling orange hair and eyes.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- Meeting.

"Hey, Kyo! You coming?"

Kyo glanced at the lean blond haired young boy wearing what seemed to be a leather jacket and holding several stink bombs in his hands. Momiji grinned to him pointing towards the great city with his thumb. His face was a bit dirty from handling smoke bombs all day, and his clothes were of fine quality yet torn and severe on the sides.

"There's a festival going on today! Which means tons of free food~ Wanna come, wanna come?!"His eyes glistened with excitement.

Kyo smirked bowing his head. Momiji was always finding excuses to go into the city. Momiji would come back after a long day talking rapidly about the festivals, the cute girls, pulling pranks of unsuspecting citizens, and mainly...jut pulling him around everywhere. However, Kyo wasn't particularly interested in the festive food. He preferred not to get involved in overly crowded areas anyways. He merely followed Momiji when he knew Momiji would actually take it to heart one day and feel neglected.

"Nah, you can just go ahead." Kyo got up from leaning against the old brick wall. He slung his black backpack around his shoulder.

"Going on a walk again?" Momiji scowled disappointed. He sighed accepting in defeat the inevitable response from Kyo. "You always do..."

"Yeah." Kyo nodded not bothering to even look at his direction.

"I know I know." Momiji whined and turned on his heel prancing away. Kyo turned watching him leave and shook his head amused before walking in the opposite direction. His feet knew where he was heading before he even planned it. There was a garden on top of a large hill that overlooked the whole city of Venice. He would sit there for hours sometimes simply relaxing. His head was full of complicated thoughts lately, and it hurt from merely thinking about one of them. He needed a place to chill, and it seemed his feet just quietly led him to where he needed to be...

...

Tohru Honda was lost. The street she was on was one she had gone down 5 times already. Tohru bit her lip scowering the street with her eyes in all directions. However, there was so much to look at she wasn't quite sure what she had seen already and what was new. She wondered whether or not she should try and go back the way she came. Or if she should just give up and find a taxi gondola. But then that would cost a lot of money...

She once again lifted the crumpled sheet of paper that her friends had given her for the address they would meet at. She was visiting Venice with her best friends Uotani Arisa, and Saki Hanajima. They had agreed to venture out by themselves then meet up later in the night. But she should have known better then to find herself lost inside a vast city where she didn't speak the language. She thought the map had looked fine when she had examined it...but it turned out there were a lot of alleys and places that wasn't listed on the map.

Tohru sighed and lifted her fists to herself. She often did this when she felt overwhelmed and needed to cheer herself on. "Just keep going Tohru." She thought out loud and began to walk again heading towards a street that may lead to the city.

She felt oddly miserable despite the beautiful walkway along the canals. It was beautiful, yet eerily lonely.

As she turned the corner she spotted a group of men had entered the road and were walking the same direction. At first she didn't pay much attention to them. But slowly she could hear them walking closer and heard how loud and excited they were.

Some laughed and said something in Italian, while another whistled. It took a moment for her to realize they were talking about her.

"Hey! Pretty lady!" A man said with a thick accent. "Play with us!"

Tohru frowned feeling nervousness build in the pit of her stomach. She didn't know how to deal with this kind of situation. Should she ignore them? Run away?

She chose the first option and quickened her pace. The men caught up to her easily, and she realized hearing the voices grow louder, that they were young and very drunk. Italians! Getting drunk at this time of day!

"We're not bad guys. Just turn around so we can see your face." A man laughed.

Tohru decided to switch streets the moment she could, but as she looked ahead with a sinking feeling, she realized she was on a one way street. She didn't even know where she was.

"Lady~Oh pretty lady~" They began to sing and laugh nudging one another. She gasped in shock as two men quickly stopped her from walking and stood in front of her. She turned to face the opposite direction but three men blocked her way. Even at the distance she could smell the alcohol that reeked off their bodies. She almost felt a bit dizzy from the horrid smell.

"We mean no harm lady. Tell us your name." The man in front of her grinned. They were all dressed in flashy clothing. All horribly matched with black suits over and dress pants. Despite the expensive clothing they seemed to be wearing, their hair and faces seemed to imply otherwise.

Tohru avoided his gaze feeling a trace of fear creep in as his eyes roamed her body. She saw how dirty his clothes were, and wanted to gag at the distraught state they were in.

"Let me go please." She commanded glaring as fearlessly as she could at the men around her.

"Ooh, why mad lady? We only want to talk with you." The blonde haired man in front of her laughed and reached forward grabbing her arm.

Like an instant reflex Tohru yanked her hand free . "No!"

"We're not bad people. Come follow us we'll have fun." A man behind her grabbed her waist. Tohru yelped whipping around and pulled free from his grasp. She felt immediately helpless and undeniably terribly frightened. "No! Stop!" She tried to pull her arms away but they were too strong.

They were laughing and she tried as hard as she could to pull her arms free. She knew it was futile, and that they were much too strong. But even so!

"Stop!" She didn't know how she could get out of this situation. She already felt dirty the way their eyes roamed her body. The way their hands were gripping her arms tightly.

THUD!

Tohru blinked through tears forming in her eyes. The man that had been tightly holding onto her arm was on the ground writhing in pain. She heard another thud and the man next to her was out equally as cold and slammed into the floor. She suddenly registered a new person.

A young man dressed in all black with startling orange hair and eyes. He grabbed her arm and pushed her back so that she was out of his way before delivering more swings. He raised his leg and squarely hit another man right in the face. The man that received the blow dropped on his side screaming. Tohru backed away watching wide eyed as the young man brought down each of the drunk men with powerful blows. She could see that he was not only stronger then them, but more quick and skilled. A man that had fallen on the floor cursed loudly and brought something out of his coat jacket pocket. Tohru screamed in warning, and the young man turned just in time to knock the item out of the drunk man's hand. After giving a final kick to the last one standing he ran towards her and grabbed her arm.

"Run!" He commanded and Tohru obliged without a second thought. The two ran away from the pile of men down the street. They went down the same street she had come from, and after passing several lanes he led her down a more unfamiliar path reaching far closer towards the city. Tohru glanced behind her as they ran, but to her relief, it seemed the men were in too much pain to have followed them. Finally they reached an empty alley at the end of the street and she saw that it overlooked the market square that was just ahead.

They stopped catching their breaths and the young man let go of her hand. The two stopped panting and leaned against the wall catching their breaths. After a moment,

Tohru looked at to see who had saved her. He was still catching he breath but was otherwise not looking at her. He had a young looking face with eyes of bright orange to match his hair. However his neck and collarbones were more defined giving him a strong look.

He was who Arisa and Hana would swoon over in a magazine of pop stars. But she had never seen someone speak Japanese in Venice. He didn't seem to be a tourist like her.

"Thank you." She stuttered out. She felt so relieved. "Thank you so much. If it weren't for you I wouldn't have known what to do."

"Are you stupid?"

Her smile froze in place as his words pierced through her like a cold knife.

"E-excuse me?"

He turned to glare at her. His gaze undeniably stronger then the men before. She stared back almost entranced by his eyes. They had seemed simply orange before, but now that she looked closer she saw that his irises held a sheen of topaz around them...and red...

"Are you here just to play? Why are you walking around by yourself at this time of day?"

"I.." She blinked registering how angry he was. "I-I was lost-"

"Of course you were. If I hadn't found you, you would have been raped, or even a prostitute. What were you even thinking..."

"Well, I've never lived in this city before-" Tohru stuttered trying to defend herself.

"Good. Just go home."

Tohru's mouth hung open as she watched him get up and turn to walk away. Before he could leave however her impulses reacted and she couldn't help but to reach out and stop him from leaving. She couldn't tell if she was angry with him, or offended.

"Excuse me! Don't you think when someone thanks you, you should just accept it and be grateful?"

The young man stopped and froze as he felt her grip tighten on his arm.

He yanked it free into the air and gave her a look with burning eyes.

Tohru bit her lip and stared back at him unable to finish what she had wanted to say after that. It was as if his stare could turn her into stone. He paused and leaned in closer to her, his eyes getting nearer to hers.

When his face was about an inch from hers he said,

"It's you, that should be grateful."

With that the young man turned around and walked away leaving Tohru in a daze of shock and embarrassment.

...

"So he saved you?"

"Not really...does it count if I was a burden to him?

Tohru frowned sipping on her orange juice. After the young man had left she had looked around and found that he had led her to the main square. The exact place she was supposed to meet Hana and Arisa at. She had found the most popular restaurant in the square and waited until Arisa showed up along with Hana. They had sat down ordering large plates of food and enjoying the night's ambience. Tohru had just received her plate and was telling them about how she had gotten lost, and how the mysterious man had saved her.

"Well what's his deal? He didn't have to go and save you." Arisa scowled. "I mean if he hadn't I would have tracked him down and beaten him to a pulp but still-"

"He probably felt the guilt of seeing someone attacked and of similar Japanese culture to him." Hana said gently scooping rounds of pasta from her plate to theirs.

"Yes...maybe." Tohru said thoughtfully. She stared as Hana scooped more rounds of pasta onto her plate. "But...I really was thankful regardless.."

"Of course you would be! You almost got raped!" Arisa shouted loudly. A couple of people sitting near them glanced at their direction and Tohru waved down her voice in embarrassment.

"It's fine. Nothing bad happened. I'm fine."

"Yea...well." Arisa huffed digging her fork into her plate of pasta and slurping it up loudly.

Hana watched Arisa for a moment before turning to Tohru her eyes gleaming. "Well Tohru. Do you think you would run into him again?"

"I don't know...Most likely not. Venice is such a large city."

"Would you like to?"

Tohru frowned staring into space. He had been very kind, but she couldn't forget the frightening glare he had given her.

"He seems...dangerous. Despite saving me."

"Of course he is. Guys like him are after only one thing-" Hana shoved a calamari into Arisa's mouth and commanded her to eat.

Tohru giggled at them and began to eat as well.

...

"Tohru let's go watch."

Tohru blinked. The three had finished dinner and was roaming around the famous Market Square. Since it was night a variety of fireworks displayed were lighting up around the square and people were doing magic tricks and shows for spare change.

As Tohru watched as a young boy who looked almost her age with blonde hair and bright green eyes grabbed a torch and lit it with the fireball in his hand. He then tossed it into the air lighting another one while it was still in the air, he repeated this process throwing almost five torches into the air before catching them and beginning to juggle them.

People shouted comments of awe and clapped loudly as the flames continued to surround the boy. Tohru watched amazed that he didn't seem scared at all. On the contrary he seemed to be truly enjoying himself, grinning as a torch almost fell near his hand.

Tohru would gasp when a torch almost touched his hair, but by the split second the young man would grab the torch and wouldn't be harmed. At the end he grabbed all five torches, blew them out one by one, and gave a deep bow.

Tohru clapped smiling as he rose up, and is he did so they made eye contact. Tohru almost gasped because this boy who seemed so European, had features of a Japanese person as well. The boy looked at her for a moment, then grinned and winked at her.

Tohru blushed and looked around her to see if there had been someone else he had been making eye contact with. However when she turned to look back, he was still watching her. As she watched, the boy took several smoke bombs out of his bag, and tossed one into the air. People screamed as the smoke bomb landed with a loud pop! And the whole audience was engulfed in smoke.

Tohru blinked and couldn't see anything around her.

"Tohru? Tohru!"

"Here!" she called and made her way around the audience in panic. Several people pushed one another and tried to get out of the smoke. Tohru turned around several times and caught sight of a person with blonde hair. She registered him as the boy who had thrown the bomb.

As she watched he moved sideways and moved out of the smoke with ease and disappeared. Almost as if the smoke had followed, it vanished and the audience was left in a state of confusion and awe.

"That was something.." Arisa breathed running to where Tohru was, giving her a small pat on her shoulder.  
>"For a moment I thought it was a joke."<p>

"He's very good at magic tricks." Tohru blinked a smile forming on her lips. Hana emerged from the crowd and frowned.

"He uses tricks like these so that we can't follow him."

"Why would he not want to be followed?" Tohru asked confused.

"Who knows?" Arisa grinned. "Such funny people in Venice huh?"

"Yes..." Tohru nodded hestitatingly. For an instant she was reminded of the young man with startling orange eyes. He seemed fairly similar to the boy with blonde hair, although they looked nothing alike...

"Well, let's call it a day. Bon voyage~"

"Arisa, that's not a correct term here." Hana said quietly.

Tohru laughed and followed her two friends as they walked out of the crowd to make their way towards their hotel.

...

"Why did you do that?"

"Huh?"

Kyo sighed. Momiji had come back from his fanfare at the Market Square covered in soot marks and grinning from ear to ear. He also smelled horribly of smoke. Kyo had watched the whole event from the hill overlooking the square and had only sighed when he was the only one who noticed Momiji secretly take a smoke bomb out of his bag at the end of his performance.

He had waited at their usual spot, a hiding alleyway out of keen eyes next to one of the canals. It was dark and quiet, but still close enough to the market to meet easily.

Momiji grinned and poured his earnings from from his performance from his hat into his leather pouch. He then snapped open a small bag of smoke bombs eyeing them one by one, frowning a bit. "I'll have to go out and buy more of these things. They don't even know how to get out of it!" He began to laugh doubling over and holding his sides.

Kyo watched Momiji his expression unfazed.

When Momiji had finished laughing he nudged Kyo and did a handstand, trying to get a reaction out of him like he always did.

When this failed to even earn him a smirk Momiji frowned and stood upright again, his unkept hair billowing around his face. He brushed his messy blond hair back and scowled at Kyo.

"What's the matter? Something bad happen today?"

"Mm?" Kyo blinked at Momiji. Momiji was always overly perceptive at times like this.

"I don't want to talk about it." Kyo sighed getting up from his leaning position and walking around to face the city.

"Awww tell me~" Momiji whined prancing around Kyo. He avoided touching Kyo since he knew he didn't like that, but kept an annoyingly close distance. "Was it a girl?!"

Kyo paused glancing at Momiji. Momiji caught his glance and immediately grinned at him, excited. "It was wasn't it?!"

"No, it doesn't matter." Kyo murmured slightly irritated. "It was just something that wasted my time."

"You always talk like that. What if she was cute?" Momiji pouted sighing. His face then lit up as he thought of something.

"Oh! Guess what?! Speaking of cute girls, I saw someone really cute today at the market!"

"Oh really?" Kyo smirked, glad the conversation had turned to focus on Momiji.

"She had brown hair, brown eyes, and she looked my age." He babbled "She was so cute! She looked so innocent too. My style." Momiji grinned almost blushing.

"That's nice. You shouldn't spoil her innocence then."

"I'm not that bad." Momiji huffed. "And we even exchanged glances."

"You flirted with her just by staring at her? Smooth."

"Yea, and then she looked at me too! She kind of looked Japanese though. Wonder why she's in Venice?"

"Hmm...there are a lot of tourists." Kyo shrugged. He was immediately reminded about the girl he had saved earlier from the rapist men. However he shook it off as something unimportant.

"You said she had long brown hair?"

"Yea, and she even wore a blue ribbon. I should go to the market again hahaha"

Kyo froze as the memory registered in his mind. It was the same girl from earlier...

He watched Momiji prancing around declaring songs of love and romance and scowled to himself. He didn't want to get mixed up with that girl again. It would be a hassle..

"Kyo, how about we eat chicken for dinner tonight?"

Kyo smiled. "You're treating right?"

"Awwww just cuz I earn money! Fine, but you get to buy tomorrow!"

...

The next day Tohru was with only Hanajima for the day. Arisa had decided to visit some other cities nearby through train while they stayed in Venice.

"Tohru. Isn't this cute?" Hana pointed at a silky yellow ribbon dangling on a shelf. The price read 5 euros.

"Yes...it is." Tohru smiled and touched it lightly with her fingertip. "I always wanted the color yellow for a ribbon."

"Wait here. I think I saw a shop with a cheaper one down the road." Hana smiled at her.

"Oh! It's ok really!" Tohru blinked waving her hands frantically.

"No it's fine Tohru-kun. Be right back."

Tohru blinked and watched as Hanajima disappeared outside the shop. Tohru smiled grateful for such a great friend. She turned her attention back onto the ribbons for a moment, when suddenly something caught her eye.

A glimpse of orange.

She blinked and registered a person with orange hair walking by the shop. She gasped and ran out of the shop looking around but noticed that the man was walking ahead past the shop into the market square. Without thinking Tohru ran after him weaving herself around the various people in the market.

"E-excuse me!" She called trying to get his attention.

He didn't turn around but simply continued to walk. Tohru tried to make her way past a young couple blocking her view but they continued to walk at a slow steady pace.

"Sorry!" She bowed weaving her way around them and coming around the square to find that he was turning sideways and disappearing down a narrow alleyway.

"Sir!" She called. She ran after him and followed him in the alley.

"Sir! Is it..?"

She blinked. He was gone. She had been so sure that he had walked down that alley. All she could see was the street winding up towards a few houses, and no one to be in sight.

"Strange..."

Tohru sighed turned to walk back when she bumped someone in the back and she turned to apologize when her eyes widened.

It was him.


	2. Chapter 2

"..."

The young man stared at her stopping her from falling for a moment before letting go of her wrists and looking at her with cold hard eyes.

"It's..." Tohru blinked registering the orange hair and handsome face stare at her.

"Why are you here?"

Again she felt the chill of his cold voice register throughout her body.

"I thought I saw you. I wanted to thank you." She stammered.

"I see." He looked away. "You don't have to."

"B-but I really am grateful. I want to at least buy you coffee or something in return for your generosity."

"Buy me something?" He repeated glancing at her.

"Yes." She nodded.

He looked at her in the eyes for a moment.

"I don't like coffee."

"Oh.." Tohru's expression fell as she racked her head. "I could get you a drink?"

"You don't have to get me anything." He sighed and turned to walk away.

"W-wait. I really wish to give you something!" Tohru gasped.

Kyo stopped and turned his head to glance at her. She was looking at him with a mixed expression of sincere gratitude. He had never seen a girl look so determined to repay someone. Why was she going so far to thank him?

"I don't want anything." He said.

"But...there must be something I can..."

"Then pay for my gondola ride back."

Tohru frowned. She was slightly taken back by his sudden request. It was such a simple one.

"That's it?"

He shrugged. "If you don't want to then you don't have to." With that he turned to walk away but Tohru hurriedly caught up to him and walked beside him smiling gratefully.

"No! That's fine! I'll just let the store owner to let Hana chan know on the way back that I'm going with you!"

"Hana chan?" He repeated confused.

"Ahhh you see I'm on a vacation with my friends here in Venice. That's why...I can't speak Italian."

"Ahhh I see." He breathed. He seemed to be disinterested but this didn't faze Tohru one bit.

"Why are you in Venice?"

"I live here."

"Really?" Tohru blinked surprised.

He looked at her with a mixed expression of surprise and frustration.

"Yes."

"I see..."

The two fell into a lapsed silence until they reached the end of the street connecting to the canals. A large gondola awaited them on either side for tourists to use for convenience. An old man with a black and white striped shirt and a Venetian hat smiled at them calling over to them.

"Need ride?!"

"Yes please!" Tohru waved at him smiling. She felt a weight on her hand and noticed the young man had pushed her hand down from waving.

"People in Venice don't do that." He said simply, then walked in front of her to get inside the Gondola.

"Lady he has no manners." The old man in the striped shirt noticed the small interaction and shook his head clicking his teeth. He eyed the young man with skeptical eyes staking in his bright orange hair jet black clothing.

"Ah! It's fine I'm in debt to him." Tohru smiled reassuringly at the old man handing him euros out of her purse for the gondola ride.

The old man took the euros gladly and helped Tohru get inside the gondola. Kyo sat on her left and the man stationed himself on the back of the boat. As the gondola began to move Tohru shifted and clasped onto the bottom of the boat tightly. The two were sitting side by side. It was now becoming sunset and the canal was a bit peaceful with live chattering at the sides and tourists walking along the bank. The gondola began to glide along the canal evenly, and soon the boat was moving in a steady motion.

Tohru looked over at her companion and noticed he had now crossed his arms and was peacefully enjoying the ride.

"Excuse me...what is your name?" She asked.

He blinked looking at her. "Why?"

"Because...I keep having to refer to you as a companion. I can just call you by your name and it would make things easier-"

"Kyo."

Tohru blinked. The name had caught her slightly off guard. It was very Japanese.

"Kyo then. Kyo..kun then?"

A corner of his mouth twitched upwards as she said the ends of kun. "This isn't Japan."

"Yes but...still.." Tohru murmured.

"Kyo-kun is fine." He sighed looking down the canal towards the direction of the sun. "Your name is...?"

And for the first time he looked directly at her in a polite and calm manner. Tohru blinked at him.

"Tohru...Honda."

"Honda-san." He confirmed and looked away settling back into his chair.

Soon they were riding under bridges and archways. Tohru couldn't help admiring the beauty of the city in the sunset glow of the mid afternoon. It was breathtaking.

"Have you ever been to Venice before?" He asked all of a sudden.

Tohru looked at him, again surprised at his direct questions. They seemed genuinely polite.

"N-no. I haven't." She smiled. "So everything seems so unreal. I feel like I'm in a dream." She trailed off looking down the stream where several small buildings were decorated with pots of flowers and colors.

"You're very lucky to live here Kyo-kun."

"Mmm." Was all he commented darkly. It felt as if a grey cloud had gone over what she had just said. She wondered if she had something she wasn't supposed to, and soured his feelings.

The two were silent again, and Tohru couldn't help but take out her small sketchbook inside her leather backpack. She took out a small lead pencil and began to sketch the view in front of her making light strokes onto the paper.

Kyo glanced at her actions but didn't comment and simply watched as Tohru sketched the small buildings, the canal, the water, the archways, and the sky.

It was peacefully quiet as she sketched and the gondola passed along the canal. There was a faint background music of the tourists oohing and commenting on how beautiful their gondola was.

Tohru finished most of her drawing and glanced at Kyo-kun. He had his arms crossed once again and was simply gazing down the canal. The wind trailed through his orange locks, and the sunset shone on his eyes a bit giving them a softer glow.

Tohru had the sudden urge to sketch him, but knowing it would be rude focused her attention back onto her drawing.

"Lady we are almost there." The old man in the back called to them.

"Ah ok!" Tohru smiled at him. "Thank you!"

"No problem lady." The man smiled. "What are you drawing?"

"The canal." Tohru explained showing him her drawing.

The old man peered over to glance at her drawing as he oared. He stared at it, then blinked at her looking surprised. "Lady that is beautiful. You could be an artist!"

"Ahhh well. I am an art major." Tohru admitted, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"No wonder. You are very good. Very good! Better then most artists here in Venice." He gave her a thumbs up smiling widely at her.

Tohru smiled happily at him.

"We're almost there." Kyo cut in not paying attention to either of them.

"Ah-yes!" Tohru blinked a bit embarrassed. "You can let us off here!"

"Alright. Thank you!" The old man bowed oaring his way back to the walking paths. He stopped and gently got off the boat first helping Tohru off.

"Visit again lady. You are very beautiful." The man bowed to her taking off his hat.

Tohru blushed brightly at that but nodded. "N-no thank you for the ride!"

Kyo-kun sighed and began to walk ahead of her.

Tohru noticed and hurriedly waved at the old man once more before following Kyo down the alley that led towards a crowd of people and tourists.

"Are you normally that friendly to everyone you meet?"

"Huh?" Tohru looked up at him.

She thought a bit before answering.

"I guess? I mean he was so nice and friendly!"

"He was only acting that way out of business formalness." Kyo-kun sighed.

"B-but...what if he wasn't?"

He stopped to stare at her and almost seemed angry. "This is why you almost got hurt that day. You're too trusting of people."

Tohru bit her lips.

"Is it bad to trust people...?"

He was suddenly silent. It was as if what she said create a large impact in him.

"Is it.." He murmured.

"Um...where do you need to go now?" Tohru asked trying to keep pace with him now that he was walking a bit more briskly.

"Home." He simply replied glancing at her. "Aren't you going to go back?"

"Um...I first have to figure out where I am." Tohru admitted. She glanced around her noticing she was completely unfamiliar with her surroundings.

"I'll get Momiji to walk you back." He sighed and walked ahead of her.

"M-Momiji?" Tohru repeated. He didn't comment more as he led the two of them down the street, then made a sharp turn to the right leading them down a narrow alley that nobody seemed to know about.

Finally they reached a dark green door with gold letters "3402" on it. It was a building that seemed ancient Venetian style, and very different from all of the other buidings surrounding the area. Tohru also noticed that it wasn't connected to any other buildings and stood alone.

Kyo took a gold key out of his coat pocket and put it inside the door before turning it and walking inside. Tohru blinked wondering whether or not she should follow him inside before she heard him call after her.

"Oi. Come in."

"Yes!" Tohru walked inside and noticed the house smelled slightly musty and old despite its modern exterior. The living room area was quite empty except for a few pieces of furniture here and there, but she noticed how packed the kitchen was with other items. Some items she couldn't even identify. There were small items that looked like toys, bombs, candles, lighters, dynamites, and packs and packs of dolls.

She noticed the kitchen looked unused and messy.

"Do...you live here?" She asked, unable to contain her genuine curiosity.

"Yes." Kyo answered nonchalantly. "With Momiji."

"Someone call me?"

Tohru almost jumped. It was as if he had appeared out of thin air. She had no movement or sound but suddenly there was a young man behind her.

She turned and blinked at him. The young man smiled at her. He had bright golden blonde locks of hair that were tousled and pale smooth skin. He seemed almost European except for his large green eyes. He was also very clean and neat despite the house interior, and his garments of clothing were chosen colorfully and lavished. It was as if he had the clothing taste of a small child but a tall and lean body.

"Y-you..." Tohru blinked. He seemed very familiar.

Momiji blinked surprised registering her face then grinned at her in excitement. "Oh! You're that girl!" He immediately reached out and took her hand. Bringing it to his lips he kissed her hand softly earning a bright blush from Tohru.

"My lady."

"Stop it. I need you to take her home." Kyo cut in.

Momiji glanced up from Tohru's hand and beamed at Kyo.

"What a coincidence! How did you two run into each other?"

"What?" Tohru blinked confused at the situation. The stranger in front of her was acting as if he had known her for years.

"We just bumped into each other twice." Kyo answered smoothly.

"You mean you knew who it was? Why didn't you tell me?!" Momiji whined. He turned his attention back to Tohru and grinned. "Nice to meet you! I'm Momiji Sohma."

"N-Nice to meet you as well." Tohru blinked feeling a bit embarrassed under the boy's intense gaze.

"D-do I know you?" Tohru asked nervously.

"Well...not really." Momiji shrugged. "But now you do." He winked at her. "Where do you need to go? I'll be your escort."

"I'm not exactly sure what it's called...but I do have the address." Tohru pulled out her slip of paper and handed it to Momiji.

Momiji took it and glanced at the piece of paper.

"Kyo you work right near here!" He said surprised. "Another coincidence huh?"

"Shut up." Kyo sighed. "Well I'm going to bed."

"Already?" Momiji frowned. "You don't want to go with us?"

"You already know why I don't" Kyo murmured before heading up the stairs.

The two watched him leave and Momiji turned back around to face Tohru excitedly.

"Well what's your name?! I'll gladly help you get home!"

"My name is Tohru Honda." Tohru smiled.

"Ahhh are you from Japan?"

"Y-yes! Are you?"

"Kinda, my mom is German and my dad is Japanese. But I'm also living in Italy so you could say I grew up Italian too. I'm 18 how old are you?"

"I-I'm 19." Tohru said surprised.

"Wow! Cool! Kyo is 21. He doesn't seem that way though since he acts like an old man half the time.."

Tohru giggled into her hand. Momiji had a very energetic personality. She had never met someone like him before.

Momiji fell silent watching her laugh then smiled at her.

"Ok, should we get going?"

...

Tohru was surprised someone could talk as much as Momiji did. He rambled about various topics leading her through narrow alley and down pavements next to the canals of Venice. He talked endlessly about his favorite circuses, about the weird people he met, his love of food, his love of pastries, how annoying Kyo was, and just some of his travelling adventures. It was hard for Tohru to keep up with all of the topics he was throwing at her.

"And then he got this huge watermelon see-? And then it went straight into-!"

Suddenly Momiji stopped abruptly and Tohru almost lurched forward and went ahead of him. Slowing her pace she looked at him surprised.

"Momiji-kun?"

"Aw...how cute." A deep voice from the side of the alley echoed to them.

It was as if a chilled atmosphere had suddenly surrounded them. Tohru realized that the two were not alone in the street. It was almost nightfall and the sun was setting quite rapidly in the city. However, this made the street seem even more dangerous as three men, all tall lean and muscular looking emerged from a hidden sideway arch. Tohru blinked and realized they had emerged without even making a sound. She also noticed the alley was nearly empty except for a couple of homeless men and tourists walking away.

The three men stood in front of them. All wore sunglasses to cover their eyes, and wore black crisp suits. They seemed old in comparison to Momiji and Tohru, but they definitely did not seem friendly. One bald man even had a cut across his cheek that was left unbandaged, and another with a ripped tear in his expensive looking pants.

As if the situation had switched, Tohru felt Momiji suddenly grab her arm and force her behind him. Momiji stood protectively in front of Tohru and she held onto her arm as she stood behind him.

"M-Momiji-kun?" Tohru asked nervously.

"Shh.." He warned in a low quiet tone. Immediately Tohru sensed a dangerous situation. Momiji sounded so serious. So different from how he had talked before...

"Sohma-sama there's no need to hide the lady. We won't harm her." The bald man held up his hands as if admitting defeat and grinned at the two of them.

"Like hell." Momiji snarled. "How'd you find me?"

"We have our ways..." The bald man took off his sunglasses as he spoke, and Tohru almost gasped. The bald man's scar on his cheek led right up his left eye as if someone had slashed his eye badly. Or was it a scar...?

"See this Momiji-sama? This is what I got for letting you escape." The man's words lost its false cheery attitude as he spoke and turned into a threatening cold trickle of words.

"Ohh I'm very sorry." Momiji said none too kindly. "But I guess I should thank you?" He shifted his body slightly to cover Tohru a bit more while he spoke. Tohru felt Momiji's shoulders stiffen and she looked at him concerned.

"Oh I don't know if I would accept the apology.." The bald man grinned laughing loudly sounding half amused half frustrated. As if this was setting a cue, Momiji instantly lurched forward and threw something that looked circular and large. In the same instant, he turned holding tightly to Tohru's arm and ran in the opposite direction.

"GAh!"

Smoke engulfed the whole alleyway in an instant. Tohru couldn't even see her hands in front of her. "M-Momiji-kun!"

"Run!" He commanded, and she felt him pull her along at an intense speed through the alley and smoke. Tohru struggled to keep up with his quick feet and felt him pull her along, then through a series of new alleys and small nooks.

"Momiji-sama! Momiji-sama!" She heard the men angrily call after them.

Tohru couldn't even speak for how fast they were running. Momiji led her in several different directions before her eyes could finally see the smoke clearing out. The first thing she did was glance behind her as they ran, but to her immense relief saw that no one was following them. But this didn't seem to stop Momiji from continuing to run at the immensely fast speed they were in. They continued to run, but in a totally different route from before. Tohru couldn't even recognize half the ways they were running through. Momiji swerved and suddenly stopped at the edge of the alley and hid in a small nook on the side.

Tohru was suddenly pulled next to him, and he covered her mouth with his hand and closed in her extremely close. Their noses were almost touching.

"Shh." He warned. Tohru's bright blue fearful eyes met his bright green ones and the two looked at one another both frozen to the spot. Tohru was about to ask what he was doing, but then she heard a faint noise of scattering feet in the alley they had just been in.

"Search every corner, they're probably heading west. If they're in the canal search that too!"

"Akito-sama is going to be pissed we lost them again."

There was the sound of a bit more scurrying and Tohru tensed as the sounds grew nearer to their location. Momiji breathed deeply and rested his forehead against hers as the two waited in silence. Finally the sounds of their steps disappeared down the alley.

Wasting no time, Momiji let go of his grasp on Tohru and peered left down the alley before pulling her out and running once more in the opposite direction. They crossed bridges across canals, wormed their way through small cracks between shops, and finally the two ended at the end of the alley.

Momiji opened the door to the first building on the right and pushed Tohru inside before slamming the door shut and locking it several times.

Tohru stopped gasping trying to catch her breath. It felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. The two stood in silence gasping as they both tried to regain their normal pace of breathing.

After a few moments there was a loud commotion upstairs and a pounding of feet and Kyo-kun appeared at the top of the stairway.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" He blinked shocked as he took in the sight of both Momiji and Tohru doubled over regaining their breaths at the end of the steps in front of the doorway.

"Akito." Momiji gasped out.

It was as if Kyo-kun had froze in time. His whole body didn't move as he registered the words, and his eyes grew wide. For the first time Kyo-kun looked shocked.

"What? How?" He asked in a hushed whisper.

"They found us. Me and Tohru. In the street. I ran back home and threw a smoke bomb to distract them. They said they had their way...but it was three of his men. Like hell..."

"Three?" Kyo-kun cut in sharply.

The two fell silent and the only sound that could be heard was Tohru's fast breathing as she tried to regain her composure. Kyo-kun made his way down the steps and looked at the two of them.

"And what about her?" Kyo-kun nodded his head towards Tohru's direction.

"They saw her. She's not safe."

"Damnit!" Kyo-kun growled and punched the wall hard with his fist. A large echo resounded throughout the house. Tohru blinked shocked to see his loss of composure.

"I...I'm sorry." She managed to gasp.

"Don't apologize." Kyo-kun said sharply. "This has nothing to do with you."

It was as if these words pierced her for the second time that day. How could someone so beautiful be so cruel to her? She felt the shock ebb away from her body and replace it with a mix of pain and resentment.

Momiji watched Tohru's expression before turning to Kyo. "Shut up. Don't take it out on her. Let's figure this out ok?"

Kyo sighed and ruffled his hair before sitting in a nearby chair. Momiji walked over to the kitchen, filled a glass with water and handed it to Tohru.

"Sit." He ordered.

Tohru nodded meekly and sat on a stool next to her.

Momiji sat himself and sighed. "So if the three of them are here...that means there's probably more."

"Or Akito himself." Kyo murmured.

"Or Akito himself." Momiji agreed in a much more tired tone. It was as if he had aged three more years and was no longer his cheerful blabbering self he had been moments before.

"We need to leave." Kyo said simply.

"Where? You have a job here...I have my show.."

"I can find a new one. You can just do the same thing you're doing in the new city. We should leave tonight. They might already know where this house is."

"Then shouldn't we leave right now?"

"That's another option."

"But what about Tohru?"

The two men glanced at her, and Tohru gazed back at them her eyes wide and frightened. What on earth were they talking about?

"Why do you have to leave?" She managed to ask.

Kyo looked away from her, and Momiji answered. "Tohru...I'm really sorry. You barely know us. I know this is totally out of the blue. But can you trust us?"

"I.." Tohru started more confused then before. "What do you mean..?" She whispered.

"As in I need you to trust us with your life." Momiji got up and put his arms on her shoulders looking deep in her eyes. "This is a serious matter, and Tohru, I'm sorry to say you just got involved. Those men are assassins. Not just any assassins, they're assassins hired by my grandfather Akito-san. He hired them to kill us."

"A-Assasins?!" Tohru gasped. She searched Momiji's bright green eyes for any hint of a joke or lie, but felt her stomach tighten, as she found none. "Why would you be hunted to be killed?!"

"Because we betrayed our family." Kyo said tiredly. As if it was an old story he no longer wished to talk about. "We belong to a large powerful family called the Sohmas. We left Japan two years ago, and in doing so betrayed them." He got up from sitting. "We will tell you details later, but for now I think we should get moving. If you don't want to be killed you'll trust us and follow us."

Momiji nodded to Kyo and left Tohru immediately opening a door that led down a fleet of stairs.

About a few seconds later he was back with two large backpacks. Kyo-kun appeared right after Momiji and filled one bag with a smaller bag. He also threw two coats to the two of them and put one on himself.

Tohru grabbed the coat and looked at it. It was a large black coat that traced up to the neckline.

"Put that on. Let's go." Kyo said.

"W...what?" Tohru blinked.

But to her surprise Momiji didn't look at her and immediately put on his coat, put on one of the large backpacks, and checked the windows outside.

"The street's empty...but we should leave through the basement."

"Yea. Tohru, put on your coat."

"Yes." Tohru felt very unsafe about the whole situation. However, she felt it was much safer to trust Kyo-kun and Momiji-kun rather then the three scary men they had just encountered...

When she finished the top buttons of her coat, Momiji grabbed Tohru's hand leading her down the stairs of the basement. He had a flashlight in one hand and Tohru heard the footsteps of Kyo-kun following in right after little light she saw was gone when she heard the door slam shut behind them and lock. Tohru glanced behind them but Momiji pulled her forward and led her down the basement towards the back. He removed a chest hiding a large hole in the wall, and bent to go inside helping Tohru follow after him. Tohru immediately felt uneasy as the walls were all dirt, and the ground was not floored. She realized the three of them were literally making their way inside a large man-made tunnel.

Soon they reached a small dead end, and Momiji lifted a large wood panel to reveal the light of the streets. Tohru blinked registering that it was now almost dark outside. It was faintly blue outside, and they were in front of a large mainstream street.

"Th-this is.." Tohru gasped. They were in front of the Grand Canal. One of the largest squares in Venice. It seemed mind boggling that their small apartment led straight to the main center of bussling tourists.

"Let's go." Kyo said quietly, he led in front of them and winded himself through several crowds of people. Momiji held onto Tohru's hand tightly and she followed as the three of them navigated their way through several large crowds of tourists in the bussling nightlife of the square.

As Tohru bumped into several people, she noticed Kyo-kun was making great pains to travel through large crowds. She wondered if it was to be less conspicuous. He led them through cafes that were two wayed, and open on either end. Then through some small crowds of people sitting in table and chairs. Finally they were led through the last end of the street and ended at the end of a bussling square of taxis, busses, and several cars trying to the make their way across the bridge entering and exiting the city of Venice.

The three of them made their way through lines of people waiting for busses, and as a green bus arrived, Kyo immediately made his way to the front and the three of them got on the bus.

They made their way to the back and the bus was seemingly empty. Perhaps since it was almost nighttime.

They sat in the back and Tohru blinked at the two of them.

"Why not a cab?" She asked.

"They might have hired cab drivers to hunt for us." Momiji answered simply.

The three fell silent and Tohru watched the outside window trying to figure out where they were going. After several stops, she realized they were heading further away from Venice.

"Are...are we not coming back?" She asked feeling she was stating something obvious.

"No. We're not." Momiji answered.

"B-but how? Do you have the money? The food? Materials? Clothing..?"

"All here." Momiji smiled at her for the first time in a while, and indicated to his back. Kyo-kun was wearing the other large backpack on his back, and was looking out the window of the bus with his arms crossed.

"But...I have to tell Hana..and Arisa..they will be worried."

"You can email them later with wifi. Just tell them you're safe, and that you have a family emergency or something."

"But...my clothes...my things.."

"I don't think you understand." Kyo-kun cut in all of a sudden. Tohru was beginning to think he only spoke when he got irritated by the lack of information they seemed to have.

"You're in danger. We're all in danger. It isn't a matter of people worrying about you. Right now the main thing you should be concerned with is yourself. Those assassin are trained to find me and Momiji, and now that you're involved, you as well. If you want to die, be my guest, but for now, just follow us, and don't complain."

Tohru opened her mouth then closed it. She wasn't sure whether she felt angry, confused, or hurt by his comment. But this did register to her that the situation was very serious.

"Where are you guys going..?" She asked quietly.

The two looked at one another.

"We haven't decided." Momiji shrugged at her.

Tohru blinked. This was one complicated journey she was about to be in...


	3. Chapter 3

After a couple of minutes they arrived at their destination. Tohru noticed Kyo was leading them to the train station. She watched waiting with Momiji as he went to the ticket usher and used quick Italian to order tickets for the three of them. As he returned, he handed each of them a ticket. Tohru glanced at her ticket and almost gasped. It read "Paris, France. 8:07pm"

"We're going to France?" She asked shocked. Momiji glanced at his ticket as well and let out yelp of satisfaction.

"Yes! I haven't been to Paris in a while."

"The train is leaving in ten minutes. Let's go." Kyo-kun nodded to them and Tohru and Momiji glanced at each other before following him. Kyo led them down the stone steps to the railway area where people waited and boarded their trains.

"But...why France?" Tohru asked as the three of them waited for their train to arrive. She shivered. Since it was now nightfall, the weather was now turning cold and they were waiting outside for the train.

"It's a different country. We shouldn't stay in Italy. They probably checked all of the tolls, and some hotels in Venice thinking we'd stay there. And if they happen to follow us to France, it's a large country so it would take them a while or even longer to even find us." Kyo answered.

"Ahhh I see." Tohru nodded. She wondered where they could possibly stay in Paris. A hotel? An apartment? She imagined them staying in the streets or sleeping in a tent. They had nothing with them except two backpacks and his wallet. She didn't even have any of her usual utilities or items...

Soon the train arrived, and Kyo-kun gestured for Momiji to go in first. Tohru followed and he went in after her. The three of them went inside down the long aisles of the train and slipped into a large booth with double doors and curtains. Kyo led the two of them inside, and closed the curtains before locking the door. He and Momiji sat across from her, and she sat across from them facing them in in the four passenger seats.

Kyo-kun sighed settling in to his chair and closed his eyes. "Sleep. We'll get there in a few hours. I already checked in a hotel for us, so get some rest."

"Finally!" Momiji yawned and leaned back in his seat.

Tohru blinked at the two of them and looked outside watching the world pass by. She saw they were crossing the lake, and the city of Venice brightly glowed in the distance. She felt a sense of sadness as they left the city. Venice had been beautiful. Everything she had seen there had seemed like a dream. As she faced her two companions who were now sitting across from her, she wondered how surreal her situation was. Never in a million years had she imagined she would be in such a dangerous situation. She was mainly worried about Uo and Hana...for just leaving the two of them like that...but she knew she had had no choice but to leave.

"I have Wifi." Momiji commented watching her expression. She blinked at him taken back. Momiji didn't seem it, but he was a very observant person. She wasn't used to someone with such a knack for grabbing people's emotions.

"R-really?"

"Sure. Here, call them." He handed out his phone to her smiling.

Tohru hurriedly took his phone and dialed Arisa's number from memory. At the first ring someone picked up.

"Shh! She picked up! She picked up!" She heard from the other end of the line. "Tohru! Tohru?!"

"Arisa!" Tohru smiled relieved to finally hear her friend's voice.

"Ohmygoodness! Tohru! We were so worried! We thought something happened to you!" (In Tohru's head she thought to herself the irony of the situation).

"Yea. I'm fine! I'm sorry I had to leave so suddenly like this."

"Why are you leaving?! And you don't even have all of your stuff. We packed it for you just in case. Hana said that the store she was at with you told her you left and never came back. What on earth is going on?!"

"Yea. Sorry. It's just...a lot happened. I received a ...notice. That.." she trailed off not even knowing what excuse to make.

She glanced at Kyo-kun who was right across from her. He was watching intently and motioned for her to go on.

"Um...well you see there was a family situation. An emergency. Someone's...awfully sick."

"Sick?! Who's sick? But you could at least stop to let us know before leaving?"

"Y-yea but I-" Suddenly the phone was yanked from her hand and Tohru blinked looking up in surprise. Kyo-kun had taken the phone and brought it smoothly to his ear.

"Hello. I'm Tohru Honda's relative and cousin. We came to Venice to pick up Tohru because there has been a death in the family." He lowered his voice to sound a bit more somber. "We will take care of her for sure, so don't worry. We will send a mail of details later on, but for Tohru's clothing and things you can pack and take them back to Japan. Tohru will be busy for the next month as we need to prepare the funeral and gather relatives who are abroad with her. She was the first one you see.."

Tohru watched her mouth slightly open as Kyo-kun easily lied in a string of fast words.

"So as you see she wasn't in a situation to easily contact the two of you. I hope you understand and just be flexible with it. Please enjoy your stay in Venice as that is what Tohru hopes for. We will contact you next week with details on her whereabouts but for now she is healthy, and in mourning." There was a pause as he waited listening to Arisa's reply on the phone.

"I'm her distant cousin studying abroad in Italy. I heard the news and picked Tohru up so that she could have a family member with her. It's a serious situation so she has to fly to Japan immediately."

There was another slight pause and he nodded. "Yes...yes...yes that's fine."

He glanced at Tohru and smirked before adding. "If that's another trouble I'm sure something could work out."

Tohru tilted her head scrunching her eyes a bit frustrated that she couldn't hear what Arisa was saying to him.

He then turned his attention back to the phone. "Yes we will do exactly that. Thank you for your flexibility and understanding. " At that Kyo-kun hung up the phone with a snap and handed the phone back to Momiji.

Tohru blinked looking from the phone in his hand and then to Kyo-kun. She was unsure if Arisa had bought the lie...

"What did she say?"

"She was worried you're alone with your male cousin, but I assured her we will take great care of you, get you your separate room, etc. For now she bought it, so relax and forget about your friends for a bit."

"Ok.." Tohru sighed in relief. For now at least she had gotten in contact with her friends. It had been much easier then she had expected, it was as If he had years of experience with her they way he talked into the phone. "You're really good at lying." She added.

"Kyo-kun lies all the time. No new thing." Momiji murmured with his eyes closed. Kyo rolled his eyes at Momiji and closed his eyes again indicating he was going back to sleep.

Tohru glanced at them and smiled. It was cute how they were so different, but still had a brother relationship.

"Are you two really related?" Tohru whispered curious.

"Yes." Kyo-kun yawned stretching his arms. "Well technically Momiji's my second cousin."

Tohru nodded "Why did you two decide to leave your family?"

Kyo kun opened his eyes to look at her. His expression was mixed with wariness but also the bit of anger she always sensed from him. His expression then relaxed and he sighed and spoke in a more softer tone.

"Sleep."

Tohru caught that as a cue for her to shut up. She clamped her mouth shut and nodded. Leaning her back against her chair she let her eyes close shut.

As Tohru tried to quietly lull herself to sleep to the steady rhythm of the moving train, she thought of the struggles of traveling now with the two young men, the three men they had encountered on the street, Hana and Arisa, and the city of Venice sparkling in the distance...

...

When they arrived in Paris, it was dark and raining. Kyo had hailed a cab at the train station, and they had all climbed in. After swerving around Tohru was a bit too sleepy to take in the beautiful city of Paris. They soon arrived in front of their destination and Tohru blinked her eyes awake only to have them widen in alarm.

They were in front of a hotel. However, this was the most grand and beautiful hotel Tohru had ever seen. A large crystal Chandelier adorned the front of the large building and it was decorated to look modernly European. It was several stories high, had luxurious architecture, and expensive glass walls. She was almost positive they had the wrong place.

"Kyo-kun?" She glanced at her right but Kyo had already gotten out of the car along with Momiji. She hurriedly followed suit, and saw him pay the cab driver with a wad of bills.

Once the cab had left, they made their way to the entrance going through the revolving doors. Tohru folded her hands as she walked across the luxurious marble flooring and carpets, nervous at such a classy place. She had never been to a place like this...not even for special events.

"Mr. Sohma?" A man sitting behind the hotel lobby desk welcomed them with a smile almost as if he had expected them.

"Remember our deal." Kyo-kun said quietly handing him his receipt. The man nodded politely.

"Merci." Kyo took the key the man held out to him.

"Your room is ready." A busboy came up to them and bowed to them.

Kyo nodded to the young boy and the two followed him up the elevators and down the halls. Once he unlocked the room with his keys, Tohru blinked again. How were they affording this?

The room was modernly crisp and luxurious. A large digital screen tv decorated the wall, and the walls were made of speckled marble and limestone covering the ground. There were several pieces of glass furniture, and she noticed there were exactly three twin beds waiting for them in a row. The room held a homey feel, but was very spacious.

"We're...sleeping here?" She asked unable to hide her shock.

"Yea. Make yourself at home." Kyo loosened his collar and unbuttoned the cuffs of his sleeves. "We're going to stay here only for tonight, tomorrow we're heading somewhere else."

"Where...do you have the money for this?" Tohru asked in a small voice.

"The Sohma's are known for being one of the largest and oldest families in Japan. We're even connected to the Japanese Royal Family." Momiji grinned and jumped onto the bed in the middle claiming it as his. "But that also means we're involved politically as well. There's a lot of drama and scandals the Sohma's go through. It's such a pain really."

"I-I see." Tohru swallowed. She looked around the room admiring the beautiful décor. "So what do you two do for a living then?"

"I work...well...kind of...I basically have fun. You know street performing? I do that. We each have an inheritance, but me and Kyo stole it before they could deposit the money we have for themselves." He gestured with his thumb to Kyo who had taken out his laptop to search something.

"He doesn't use his money for himself though, he only uses it for special purposes and uses the money he gets from working. I don't know why he does that though, he could buy himself a house if he wanted to."

"Really?" Tohru blinked.

"Yea." Momiji stretched his arms and grinned at her. "So don't worry about money. That's not really the main concern here. The main concern is keeping you and us alive."

"Alive.." Tohru repeated feeling her heart feel colder at that word.

"I'm taking a shower first." Kyo sighed as he closed his laptop shut.

Tohru was almost pulled out of her thoughts as she watched Kyo leave the room. She stared after him for a moment before sitting down on the bed next to Momiji.

"Momiji-kun. Why are those men after us? If the Sohma family is so powerful, wouldn't they just send the police or someone to get us instead of permanently kill us?"

"Ahhh now that's where it gets complicated my small strawberry." Momiji wiggled his fingers at her clicking his teeth. He leaned back and used his hand to prop himself up and looked at her.

"You see. The thing is, the Sohma's are not powerful just because they're the Sohma's. We're powerful because we have a curse."

"A curse?"

"Yes. A curse." Momiji's eyes darkened at the word and he bit his lip down. "It's hard to explain if you haven't seen it. Well it's a terrible curse that has broken thousands of generations. And me and Kyo-kun are binded by this curse. Not by law, not by force, but by blood."

"B-Blood?" Tohru blinked feeling her inside feel a bit sick.

"Yup. Blood. We were born with the curse. And I guess I'll just have to show you sometime what it exactly is since you got involved in all of this crap. But for now I will tell you this. No one can know about it. No one can find out about it either. And for a Sohma to associate themselves with someone other then a Sohma, and more importantly if a Sohma decides to leave his family...well...we're punished. Harshly at that."

"It's like..." He trailed off. Then he smiled snapping his fingers. "Like leaving your clan. We're marked as forever betrayers. The head...well Akito-san. He's the head of the Sohma's. He controls everything. And he's the one that wants us dead."

"Oh my..." Tohru whispered. This was much more serious then anything she had heard of. A family that assassinated its members for leaving...

"Is this...legal?" Tohru asked.

Momiji blinked then burst into laughter at her comment. He got up wiping his eyes and looked at her with his eyebrows raised in exasperation. "Legal?! Since when has anything to do with power been legal?!"

"I... guess so..." Tohru murmured watching as he settled down.

"So yea. That's the story. Well the gist of it. Enough to let you know so that you're not completely unaware of what's going on. But Tohru, I want you to know you can't trust anyone anymore." Momiji's voice dropped down to a much more serious tone. It was as if he wanted to emphasize this fact above everything he had told her so far.

"Not even the people you used to know, not even your parents. Because the Sohma's might be using them to get to you right now. They'll trick you. Stab your back. Use anything to get to you and make you feel worthless. Trust me, the only people you can truly trust is..."

He raised a thumb and pointed it to himself as a large grin spread across his face. He winked at her.  
>"And of course Kyo. You should trust him more then me."<p>

Tohru blinked at him taking in his words... She knew it was true. His eyes as they shook as he talked about the Sohma's, his excitement as he mentioned Kyo-kun's name, and his serious tone as he referred to her with trust. How complicated...how cruel..

"Ah by the way I'll give you some clothes to change into!" Momiji smiled and grabbed the backpack he had been carrying earlier and zipped it open. Taking out several articles of clothing and utilities, he handed her a large white shirt and some grey shorts.

"I know it will be big, but better comfy then not."

"T-Thank you." Tohru took the clothes gladly and smiled at him.

"Ah.." Momiji's face turned pink a bit. "I'll turn around so you can change right now if you want."

"Sure.." Tohru turned around. At the same time she heard a sharp clack of the door opening in the front.

"Momiji go."

"A-Aiyai sir!"

Tohru heard movement behind her as Momiji left and she wondered whether or not she should still change.

After a pause Kyo commented "You can finish what you were doing. I won't look."

"Y-yes." Feeling embarrassed, she tried to take her shirt off as fast as possible, however in doing so she felt a piece of her hair yank into one of the buttons on the shirt.

"Ow!"

"Oi. What did you do?"

"N-No don't worry I have it." Tohru felt tears go into her eyes as she tried to pull her hair free from her shirt. It was beginning to knot up. She glanced behind her and saw that Kyo had his back turned to her and was drying his wet hair with a towel. She almost stopped struggling as she took in his muscular back. He was not wearing a shirt, but he was wearing pants.

"You done yet?"

"W-Wait!" She turned around and frantically tried to pull the shirt off of her. Finally she got it through and took Momiji's shirt and put it on. She then took off her skirt and pulled on his shorts.

"Ok! Done!" She quickly shoved her clothes into a lump and straightened her hair.

Kyo turned around slowly and blinked at her. His face twitched slightly, like he was refraining from a smile or laugh.

"Your hair..."

"What?" Tohru blinked. She got up and went to stand in front of a mirror. She gasped and saw that her hair had knotted to the side and looked like a complete and utter mess.

She blushed and used her fingers to work through her hair.

"Your hair is really long." Kyo commented sounding unfazed.

"Y-yes. I didn't mean for it to get this long...but it sort of happened."

Tohru felt so restless. She hadn't felt like this at all when she had been around Momiji. But when Kyo-kun was around she felt frantic and couldn't seem to settle down. She wondered why that was.

"I have a comb you can use."

"Really?" Tohru blinked turning around to look at him. She was surprised he was offering to help. She watched as he dug through his backpack and tossed her it. Tohru caught it and instinctively tried to work it through her hair.

As she started on the other side of her head however, she parted her hair and saw him staring at her. She blushed and automatically closed her eyes.

"Kyo-kun...your shirt..."

"Mmm?" He blinked at her.

"Can you...please wear a shirt?" She felt herself grow even redder as she said those words.

"Ah..." He replied recognizing he had been shirtless the whole time.

She heard the sound of rustling and then he said "Ok you can open your eyes."

She blinked her eyes open and saw that he had already climbed into his bed. He had put on grey vneck and had turned his back to her.

"I forgot...you're a girl." He sighed.

Tohru paused at his words. For some reason Tohru wasn't as offended as she usually was at his words. Instead she felt he was just simply stating something he thought.

As Tohru began to talk more with Kyo-kun, she noticed he wasn't really insulting. He was just... blunt. Stating what was on his mind regardless of how it would be perceived.

Tohru combed the rest of her hair quickly and set it gently next to Kyo-kun's bed stand. She then climbed into her twin bed next to Momiji's and snuggled into her blanket. It was such a soft bed. Luxurious beds were something she could get used to.

She laid there quietly looking at his back. He was right. She was a girl. And she realized that she would now be traveling with the two of them for ...who knows? But she hoped she could become close with them. She hoped she wouldn't bother them either...It felt strange to fall asleep next to someone she barely knew, yet she felt safe. She knew deep down she could trust him and Momiji.

"Thank you. Goodnight." She whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

Tohru hadn't expected to have woken up so early. She was normally up around the same time everyone else was up. But as she blinked her eyes open she noticed the room was slightly chilly, and had the faint blue light of the morning sky.

"Mm.." She yawned a bit and rubbed her eyes, debating about whether or not to get up. She had wanted to see the famous Bridge of Sighs with Hana-chan in the morning. But maybe they could go in the afternoon?

Slowly as Tohru got up taking in her surroundings, the day's events registered into her head. She blinked and turned to see a handsome young man with tousled blond hair sleeping soundly in the bed next to her.

Tohru blinked looking at Momiji for a moment, and realized last night's events had not been a dream. It had been real. And she was in Paris, France with Kyo and Momiji Sohma, running away from a group assassins. It felt unreal to her.

She glanced to look at the bed on Momiji's right, but noticed that it was empty, showing only the last signs that someone had slept in it the night before.

She wondered where Kyo-kun had gone off to. Breakfast? Planning?

Deciding to get ready before Momiji got up, Tohru slowly crept out of the bed covers. The chill of the morning air met her bare legs, and she shivered hurrying herself to the bathroom. Walking in Tohru turned on the lights and glanced at the mirror. The bathroom was just as lovely and luxurious as it had been the night before. Everything was still the same. Tohru glanced at her hair, and was glad it had nicely straightened itself during the night. Luckily Kyo-kun had brought extra toothbrushes so she set herself getting ready and washing up.

Once she was done, Tohru stepped out of the bathroom and heard the door open. Kyo-kun walked in wearing jeans and blue jacket. He glanced at her noticing her presence.

"You up?"

Tohru nodded at him. She took in his appearance and was once again blown away by how handsome he looked. His hair was as bright as ever, but the clothes he wore gave him a less threatening and more of a casual vibe. "Where did you-?"

Kyo held up the bag he was holding before she could finish. She saw that it had a loaf of bread and other items obscured inside. It looked like their breakfast.

"Momiji not up yet?"

"No.." Tohru glanced at Momiji's sleeping figure. He was sleeping very soundly and had spread his legs out wide across the bed and was clutching a pillow to his chest. He looked fairly peaceful and cozy.

"Maybe we shouldn't wake him up..?" Tohru murmured. She glanced at Kyo but instead of replying he walked over to the water filtration system. Taking a glass and pouring himself water, Kyo drank half of it before walking over to Momiji and pouring the rest on top of his head.

"Yah-!"

Momiji's eyes burst open and he leapt up shaking his head.

"Morning." Kyo smirked and set the glass down on the table.

Momiji let a yell of anger and threw the pillow he had been clutching at Kyo. Kyo dodged it neatly letting out a chuckle and casually began to open up the contents of the bag for their breakfast.

"You couldn't have woken me up a better way?! Douche." Momiji said flopping back onto his bed with a groan.

"I'll remind myself that next time you won't wake up."

"Like hell you will."

"Ouch. And for all the effort I take to bring you food in the morning."

Tohru couldn't help containing her shocked expression. Kyo had poured the water on Momiji's head as if it was nothing.

"W-why?" She began

"He doesn't wake up any other way." Kyo finished nodding at her before setting the items on the table. He had bought French croissants and fresh jam. He had also bought European fruit.

"Eat. We're leaving in a bit."

He threw a towel at the still scowling Momiji. "And dry up."

Tohru smiled sheepishly at Momiji. "Did you sleep well Momiji-kun?"

"I guess." Momiji sighed grumbling shooting a glance at Kyo. "Until he messed it up that is."

"I heard that." Kyo's voice echoed from the bathroom.

Tohru giggled. Momiji's scowl softened into a gentle smile as he heard her laugh. He seemed to have registered the morning mood and was back to his normal energetic self.

"Did you sleep well Tohru?"

"I did actually." Tohru nodded. "I've never slept in such a nice place before..."

"Really? The memory foam pillows were ok." Momiji commented thoughtfully before grinning and reaching over to grab a peach. "I love fruit here. Tohru you gotta try it, the fruit in Paris is the best!"

"R-really?" Tohru took one and bit into it. Her taste buds screamed with satisfaction. It was sweeter then honey. It had so much juice, the peaches in Japan were nothing compared to the one she was currently eating. Momiji gulped down his peach and reached over to pour himself milk from the glass bottle Kyo had brought.

"Like if I had to go somewhere for food, it would be Paris. Definitely. Everything tastes like candy."

"I'm glad you like it here." Tohru laughed.

"Yea." Momiji's face suddenly fell. "I'm sorry you couldn't finish your vacation though..."

"It's fine." Tohru smiled at him. "I saw mostly everything. The Grand Canal...the gondola rides...the Venetian Masquerade masks."

"2 minutes." Kyo appeared behind her. Tohru almost jumped. They were so good at appearing out of nowhere without making a sound. He reached over her shoulder to grab a croissant.

"Where are we going?" Momiji asked his mouth now stuffed with croissant and jam.

"We're going shopping."

"Shopping?!" The two repeated loudly staring at each other in surprise.

...

Tohru blinked in front of her. They were in front of a store that said "A.P.C. Paris." It definitely did not look like a local dress shop. The walls were made out of marble and indicated something worth more then everything in her closet at home put together.

She saw Momiji prancing up and down. "Yes! New shoes here I come!"

"W-wait..Isn't this a designer brand..?!"

"Go in." Kyo opened the door and the three walked inside. He immediately walked to the nearest clothing rack and leafed through a few shirts before handing her one.

"Try it on. I'll give you a few to try on, and pick three you like."

"W-wait, but I have clothes..."

"For travel no. For staying with us no. You won't be able to wear a lot of different clothes anymore since its heavy to carry around." He sighed ruffling his hair back with his hand. "So just don't say anything and accept it." Kyo motioned for one of the helpers to come get her a fitting room.

"B-But Kyo-kun..." Tohru glanced at the shirt she was holding and looked at the price tag. Her eyes went wide.

"118 euros for one shirt?!" She gasped. That was nearly 200 dollars in Japanese money.

"It's on sale." Momiji commented nodding in approval before hopping over to a section of men's footwear.

Tohru's head felt dizzy. Just how rich were they?!

"B-but.." Her shoulder slumped as she realized it was no use complaining. Although the prices were ridiculous, she knew no matter how much money they had, she shouldn't tell them what they could spend their money on.

After trying on a few shirts, Tohru decided on two dresses and a simple white shirt with a pair of jeans to wear along with it. Kyo also bought her a backpack and a pair of pajamas.

He gathered all of the items into her backpack and told her to change into the clothes she bought.

"You can't be wearing the same clothes you were wearing yesterday. They'll recognize you from a mile away."

Tohru nodded and Momiji had a small fight with Kyo about shoes he didn't need but wanted, and finally the three left the store in a hurry. (Momiji wearing new shoes and throwing away his old ones).

"Kyo are we staying in Paris?" Momiji smiled happily down at his new shoes.

"Well...we're not in a situation to go back to Venice that's for sure. Let's go back to the hotel and talk it out."

Once they arrived back at their hotel they settled into the chairs and Kyo sighed in frustration.

"I just can't predict Akito's movements. Either they're staking out in Venice waiting for us, or searching every place nearby."

"We could go to a different country?" Momiji piped up.

"And risk them finding out what plane we're connected to?"

"There's also that..."

"Um how about staying in Paris?" Tohru offered not really knowing whether or not it was a good idea.

"That's also an option."

"Yea, but then we should look for an apartment."

The three fell into a lapsed silence for a moment. Tohru folded her hands in her lap nervously. How would they be able to avoid Akito-san's assassins?

"Should we ask the police to help us?" Tohru asked.

Kyo and Momiji glanced at one another and burst out laughing at the same time. Tohru blinked surprised. Rather then being surprised about it being funny however, she was more surprised that Kyo had laughed. He normally never laughed or grinned for that matter.

"You think we haven't tried?" Kyo finished laughing and swept his hair back.

"The police are on Akito's side." Momiji explained. "He has members in each field looking for us. Spies you could call it."

"Oh..." Tohru frowned feeling slightly dumb.

"For now.." Kyo said slowly seeming to reason a plan. "Let's stay in Paris. We'll rent a small apartment. I'll find a discreet job. Momiji maybe you can do your performances somewhere less touristy, and Tohru..."

He glanced at her. "What can you do?"

"Hey." Momiji scowled.

"I..I can cook! I can paint and draw.." Tohru immediately offered.

"You can cook?!" Momiji gasped leaning in towards her.

"Yes. Only Japanese food of course, but I could try learning European recipes if that's better.-?"

Momiji smiled widely. "Yes! I wish I could hug you Tohru! Kyo we won't starve to death anymore!" Momiji got up and danced around the room laughing.

"W-What?"

Kyo shot Momiji a glance of warning. "Momiji..."

"Tohru do you know how to make donkatsu?"

"Yea? It's really easy you get batter and chicken and.."

"Kyo~~~" Momiji sang.

"You're starting to act like Shigure stop." Kyo rolled his eyes but had a slight grin on his face.

"Who's Shigure?" Tohru asked.

"He's a pervert." Momiji stopped dancing and was abruptly serious. "I hope you never meet him. If you do, make sure you call for help."

"Enough of that old man, let's finish this up. Ok, Tohru you can make us dinner since we both eat lunch outside. All good?"

Tohru suddenly noticed that the two of them were already calling her by her first name. She hadn't even noticed until now..

"Ok! Kyo can we get a loft apartment?" Momiji asked.

"Do you want to pay for rent?"

"Awwww but you just got us a 5 star room!"

"That was in a special circumstance." Kyo cleared the table and looked at Tohru. "Ah..and by the way. If you wish to go out, you can, but make sure to take one of us with you. As for leaving us...I don't think that's possible right now."

Tohru stared at him wide eyed. She simply nodded quietly.

...

It was raining in Paris. Tohru shivered pulling her coat around her. She was waiting quietly outside for Kyo-kun to finish talking to the owners of the apartment loft. As the sky darkened she felt a bit more worried until he finally stepped outside and walked towards her.

"Done?" She asked smiling.

"Yea." He handed her a paper. "It's small, but enough for us."

"It's fine. I'm really thankful you guys are taking care of me." Tohru said.

"Not really." Kyo looked away from her. "We just don't want you to get killed because of us."

"But still." Tohru smiled.

The two began to walk back to Champ de Mars where Momiji was giving a performance. Tohru glanced at Kyo and noticed he looked tired. More so then she had seen before.

"Kyo-kun...are you alright?"

He almost stopped walking, but glanced at her seeming to register her presence. "What?"

"A-are you alright?" She asked once more, unsure what it was that made him seem so unapproachable.

"Yea. I'm fine." He said curtly. Tohru lapsed into silence. She couldn't really understand his character. He wasn't overly rude, but he was far from friendly. She wondered if something had happened in his past to make him that way.

"Kyo-kun...are you closest with Momiji-kun?" She asked as they walked towards the Eiffel Tower. It felt surreal to be in Paris walking next to a young man that had saved her just a few days ago...she couldn't quite register what was quite happening.

"No. He just clings onto me."

"But...he's so nice to you." Tohru smiled knowingly.

"Nice?" Kyo-kun let out a chuckle before he lapsed into silence.

"Do you have parents though? Like your mother or your fath-"

Suddenly her voice was cut off and she felt him yank her arm roughly and have her face him. Tohru felt the breath knock out of her voice and she trembled from the cold rain. Tohru froze as she took in the stare he was giving her. His eyes were red with anger...no they were cold with fear. And he seemed the most angry he had ever been at her. Tohru's words disappeared down her throat and she looked at him. She wondered why his gaze was so terrifying yet she didn't seem to feel fear at all...

They stared at one another for a long moment before Kyo closed in and brought his face close to hers. "You ask too many questions." He said coldly. Tohru felt a tremble course her body at his cutting words. At that he let her go and walked ahead of her.

Tohru blinked as the places he had tightly held her burned her in memory. As she watched him walk ahead she clutched the sides of her arms trying to warm herself up. Staring at his back she realized she didn't seem to be looking at the back of a young man...instead she only saw the back of someone strong...lonely...and hurt..

...

"Tohru you're all wet." Momiji complained taking off his jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. "Come on let's go. Did you get the apartment Kyo?"

"Yeah yeah." Kyo avoided Momiji's gaze of disapproval and began to lead them down the square. "We got the loft you wanted. Luckily it was cheap."

"I have a good eye you know." Momiji grinned. "Tohru did you get to see the Eiffel tower?"

Tohru blinked pulled out of her thoughts. She had been watching Kyo's back wondering what to make of him and almost felt bad she had been distracted while Momiji had been talking to her.

"Oh!" She quickly turned to glance behind them to look at the large gleaming tower in the distance. It was beautiful. Exactly like the scenes in pictures and movies. However her body couldn't seem to take it in. So much had happened in such a small amount of days. The fact that she was in Paris seemed completely surreal to her. But also, very exciting.

"It's beautiful." She breathed.

"Yeah. But we should show you a skyline view of it. It's better!"

"I would like that.." Tohru smiled. She always loved how easy it was to talk to Momiji. They were already as close as if they had known each other for years. But as for Kyo-kun...

She sighed glancing at him walking in front of them. She knew things would eventually get better...but for now all she could do was trust them.

...

A few days past. Tohru was still getting used to living with two young men. Kyo-kun often went around the house without a shirt on and she had to constantly remind him to put one on. Momiji was quite the opposite and was always very flustered and gentlemanly when it came to her and her girl issues.

Tohru would wait for the two to finish work until night and cook dinner for the three of them. Momiji always raved about her food and Kyo-kun would simply eat it without complaint. However, Tohru did notice he almost always ate everything on his plate.

In the midst of the week, after dinner one night Kyo pulled Tohru to the side and murmured to her."I need you to pick up something for me tomorrow. A cake at the Pierre Herme patisserie. Anything will do."

He handed her a wad of euros. "And make sure Momiji doesn't know."

"What's it for?" Tohru asked blinking. She then smiled excitedly. "Is it for his birthday?!"

"Shhh.." He warned holding a finger to his lips. He glanced around but Momiji was still humming and singing in the shower.

"Yea. So anything will be fine."

Tohru immediately felt excited. "What about presents?"

The corners of his mouth twitched and he almost smiled. "Momiji buys everything he wants. Just cake would make him happy."

"Ohh ok."

"And.." Kyo paused making eye contact with her. She stopped breathing for a moment as he stared at her. It seemed as if his eyes changed hues of orange every day. He seemed to want to say something more, but simply finished with

"I'll be home early."

Tohru smiled at him. "Ok!"

...

Tohru was humming along to herself. She felt like she was in an extremely good mood. She had her hands carefully wrapped around the handle of the cake box.

Tohru had had a hard time choosing just one cake. They had all been decorated beautifully and she wasn't sure what kind of food Momiji-kun liked. He seemed to simply eat whatever she gave him. She just ended up buying a beautifully decorated chocolate and strawberry cake since Momiji was always raving about chocolate and fruit.

She smiled to herself imagining his expression when he found out they had bought her a cake. She was glad Kyo-kun was coming home early today. She had often felt a bit unsafe at home alone through the day...

She turned in the corner humming to herself and started down her usual path towards home. She was wondering what she should cook for dinner when she suddenly felt something cold behind her.

"Hello darling."

Tohru's eyes widened as the voice said it right next to her ear. She was about to yell out in surprise when something muffled her mouth and she was knocked down cold, the cake she was holding knocked cleanly out of her hands.


	5. Chapter 5

Tohru was aching. Her back held a painful throbbing sensation and it was hard for her to move it. She felt a bit chilly as well...

Where was she?

Tohru blinked registering her surroundings. She was inside...a cell. The ground was wet and cold, and she could see a faint light in the wall with bars covering the window. She struggled to get up but as she moved her arms she felt a heavy weight on them. Her eyes widened as she realized she was shackled to the stone wall. She examined the iron fretters that were locking her hands to the wall, and saw how large they were. They were extremely heavy, as if she was weighing dumb bells.

"K-Kyo kun. Momiji kun.." She whispered. All at once fear terrified her. She had no idea where she was, nor who had brought her here. She tried to prop herself up properly, and struggled against the sharp pain that stung her back. She finally succeeded in propping herself up a bit, but felt even more uncomfortable as she took in her surroundings. It was damp and dark inside the room. There was no visible light to tell her what time of day it was or where she was.

Suddenly, there was a sharp noise down the hallways of large doors clacking open, and footsteps approached. She heard a few murmurs until the door to her cell opened and a bright light shone in.

She blinked wondering who it was, when she saw a man step forward.

She felt her throat turn dry. It was the man who they had met earlier in Venice. The one with a scar spreading across his left eye.

"Y-you!"

"Hello little lady." The man stepped forward with his arms crossed behind his back. He was wearing a formal suit and looked much more tidied up then before. He was however wearing the same smirk he had given to them when he had seen her with Momiji in the alley.

He crouched down and looked at her eye level. Tohru wanted to move away but her shackles held her in place. He stared at her for a long moment and Tohru avoided his gaze feeling even worse then when she had encountered the rapists in Venice.

"What's your name?" He whispered to her.

Tohru blinked, nervous, and looked at him. "Why...should I tell you?"

He stared at her for a moment, then let out a bark of laughter and shook his head at her. "No need to get defensive here young lady. I simply wanted to know who you are. You and I got started on the wrong foot you see. I'm simply curious. Curious as to why...you were with the two of them..."

He reached forward and stroked a peace of her hair. Tohru shivered from his touch and avoided his gaze. He grinned at her reaction, and pulled back to reach inside his coat pocket. Tohru couldn't help looking to see what he was doing.

She gulped. Her stomach felt queasy as she realized what he was bringing out was a gun.

"Now. Let's try this again. Why you were with...the two Sohma's?" At this he brought it out and brought it towards her neck. She felt the cold shaft press up against her neck.

Tohru gulped. She felt like she had immobilized into stone. She couldn't speak for how scared she was.

"We need them. Kyo and Momiji." He said gently despite the harsh item he was pushing against her neck. "And for some reason, they seem to be protecting you awfully well. Until now that is." He laughed at his own wit. "There's nothing you know that we already don't know. So spill."

"Spill..?" She whimpered. She felt tears come into her eyes. What could she do?

"What's their curse?"

Tohru blinked at him. She was sure she had heard it wrong. "C-curse?"

"Don't play dumb with me." His smile fell into a threatening glare. "I mean what I said. What's the curse?"

"T-the curse? I...don't know."

She felt something hot. She couldn't see. He had smacked her across the face with the gun. Tohru trembled feeling her face feel numb at the pain.

"Bitch. You know."

Tohru tried to compose herself feeling tears now falling down her face. She waited until most of the pain had ebed away until she could finally choke out "I r-really don't know."

"Well then...should we try other means..?" At this he turned around and Tohru suddenly registered two men behind him. They were holding what seemed like a bowl and a tong in the other. Her eyes grew wider. It was a bowl of lit charcoal...and a hot iron.

The man in front of her smirked and turned to grab the tong the other man was holding. He brought it towards her and yanked her arm forward. Tohru could almost feel the heat from the tong.

"S-S-S-Stop!" She felt the tears spilling at a rapid pace now. "W-Wait. Please! I really don't!"

"You'll know once we do this won't you?"

"I mean it! Please! I beg you!"

"Stop."

The man froze and Tohru with him. They turned to look at the door. A man with jet black hair and a formal attire of Japanese clothes walked forward. Tohru immediately knew he was fully Japanese. He was smiling at them coldly and had a lean face with a boyish look about it. He also held a small fan and was fanning himself lightly with it. Contrary to the situation, he seemed completely at ease and at home with himself.

"What's your name child?" He asked lazily.

"Tohru...Honda." Tohru managed to whisper feeling her tears roll to her lips.

"Ahhh such a boyish name for such a pretty girl like you." He smirked at her and folded his fan away. "Leave us."

"But sir.." The man with the scar began.

"I think you should do as I say." The man in the Japanese attire's voice grew cold and the man with the scar stared at him but immediately backed away with the tong and stashed it back inside the charcoal bowl. "Let's leave." He murmured to the other two men and the three left the room leaving only Tohru and the man in the Japanese attire alone.

Tohru trembled and slumped down feeling her hands sweat from the anxiety of it.

The man smiled at her and walked towards her crouching down beside her. He helped her up from her crouching position so that she was leaning against the wall and looked at her. Tohru blinked her tears away and noticed he had purple eyes. How strange.

"I'm Shigure. Nice to meet you."

"Shigure-san.." Tohru repeated, and suddenly remembered something familiar about the name. Shigure...hadn't Momiji told her to stay away from this man?

_"I hope you never meet him. If you do, make sure you call for help."_

Shigure watched as Tohru's expression turned from sadness into horror.

He grinned at her.

"What? Are you scared?"

"Should I be?" Tohru whispered.

"Well...if you wish." Shigure nodded to himself. "But I am sorry about how you were treated Honda-san. You see...the Sohma's don't joke around." He laughed to himself seeming to enjoy an inside joke. Tohru stayed numbly silent watching him. He then settled down and took her chin in his right hand bringing it up so that she would look properly into his eyes.

"And I knew just from looking at your face what kid of girl you are. You can't lie can you Honda-san?"

She remained silent. She was unsure of what to say or do. She just knew she felt immensely tired from how scared she was.

He went on. "But that makes it more difficult. We can't torture you or make you give us information you don't have. You don't know what the curse is." He said simply.

"No.." Tohru managed to whisper. "So you have no use for me."

"Indeed we don't...except one of course."

He brought something out of his suit pocked and showed it to her. Tohru narrowed her eyes and saw that he was holding up a photograph. It was three young boys one with reddish orange hair, one with silver hair, and one with golden blond hair all standing together in a row. They seemed to be enjoying themselves and were all smiling except for the reddish orange haired boy who was scowling at the other two. It looked like Kyo and Momiji when they were little.

"We will use you Tohru-kun. Kyo and Momiji will undoubtly come for you. And when they do...we'll kill them.

Tohru's eyes widened in horror. The faces of the young kids etched into her memory. The young Kyo and Momiji who were smiling so happily in the past...

"No." She gasped. He said it so easily. As if killing was an everyday occurrence.

Shigure's eyes darkened as he brought his mouth to her ear.

"We're going to use you as bait. It's going to be all your fault when they arrive and get hurt. Won't it be fun?"

Tohru's eyes widened as she listened and she felt an incredible pain in her stomach. She felt nauseous. She knew it was possible. Kyo and Momiji were the type to save her, especially since Kyo had saved her once before when he hadn't even known who she was.

But for the luck of it all...she wished with every fiber of her being that they would forget about her and move on. She could only hope that Kyo-kun would convince Momiji she wasn't important enough. She could only hope they would assume something otherwise. She could only hope...they wouldn't come.

She felt a sob echo out of her and she bit her mouth. Please don't come Kyo-kun...please don't come Momiji...please stay safe.

...

"We need to go after her."

Kyo and Momiji were sitting at their dining table looking at the box Tohru had bought. It now contained a destroyed birthday cake and Tohru's yellow ribbon was taped to the box.

Kyo had come home only to find the box and no note. However Tohru's ribbon and the ruined cake was more then enough of a hint on what had happened. They had taken her. And they were threatening them with her life.

"Damnit!" Momiji's fist slammed down on the table. He had arrived to Kyo's news and had grown ghost pale. "We should have looked after her better! She shouldn't have been left alone!"

"But we did. And she's gone." Kyo sighed and brought a hand to his head scrunching his hair. "They'll kill her."

"Obviously!" Momiji gritted through his teeth and shook his head getting up. "We have to go get her. She's innocent. She did nothing wrong to get involved with us."

"But she did. And now she's paying the price."

"Kyo!" Momiji slammed his fist down and glared at him. He fumed. "Don't you have any sympathy? She's fucking kidnapped. Because of you nonetheless!"

"I know!" Kyo shouted. He had suddenly got angry despite himself. He got up panting with his eyes red and burning.

Momiji froze and stared at Kyo. He rarely saw Kyo lose composure like this.

"I know!" He continued. "Don't you think I know what I have done by getting her involved with us? I shouldn't have let her come with us. I shouldn't have let her take me home! And now she's gone into their hands. I knew from the beginning a girl like her shouldn't get mixed up with a guy like me. I know how innocent and naïve she is, and she doesn't deserve this." He grabbed his coat slamming it to the ground and turned away breathing out angrily.

Momiji stared at Kyo his words dying down in his throat. He felt surprised but most of all fearful. For all of them. The fact that both of them were losing composure showed they truly did care about her...

After a few moments of silence Momiji cut it.

"Then... what are we going to do Kyo?"

Kyo relaxed his position and let out a long sigh. He paused for a long moment but finally said "We have to go after her."

...

Tohru felt hungry. She had slept through the night in the cell, and then woken up to men grabbing her. They had pierced her arm with a syringe, taped her mouth, and put her in a large bag before hauling her out.

When she had come through Tohru was not only in a different room, but she was in a different atmosphere. She could feel the air was less cold and damp then before. She was also in a very modern and clean room. It was Japanese style with paper doors and a bamboo flooring. She was however tied up by strong cords, and felt drowsy from whatever they had put in her body.

Coming through she noticed the door open and a small girl wearing a kimono and hair tied in a bun walked towards her. She was carrying a bowl of water.

She avoided Tohru's gaze as she made her way to her. Gently setting the bowl down she bowed her head apologetically before ripping the masking tape off of Tohru's mouth in one fluid motion.

"Ya!" Tohru yelped feeling her vision go blurry from the pain.

She licked her lips feeling the dry skin around it. " Ow!" She cringed.

"Drink." The girl said quietly and held the bowl up for her.

"E-excuse me where are we?" Tohru asked.

"Drink." The girl only repeated. Not really knowing what to do, Tohru obliged and drank the water thirstily. When she finished the girl got up to leave, but Tohru yelled out at her.

"No! Please! Tell me where I am. My name is Tohru Honda. Are we still in Paris?"

The girl paused with her back turned before saying quietly. "No...we are in the city of Venice. This is Akito-sama's vacation home."

With that the girl left and shut the door behind her.

Tohru blinked registering the girl's words inside her head. They were back in Venice? And they were inside a vacation home...Akito-sama's vacation home. Who was Akito? Didn't Momiji say he was the head of the Sohma family?

Tohru tried to register the information and make sense of it all. If she was back in Venice, Italy, that meant that she was around 3 hours away from Kyo-kun and Momiji...

She breathed out a sigh of relief. If she stayed here. Whether she died or not, they would be safe right? There was no way they could find her in the complicated city of Venice right?

Tohru nodded to herself and looked around the room. It was bare except for few pieces of Japanese furniture and small figurines. She wasn't exactly sure why the room was decorated to be Japanese style when they were located in Venice. She did register however that she was in a highly expensive place. It looked much better then the prison cell she had been in earlier.

Tohru sat there thinking of various things. If she was to be hurt, or killed, or tortured, no matter what she would hold strong. That she would do. That she _could_ do for Kyo and Momiji.

Breathing in and out , Tohru echoed the words in her head. "Keep strong... keep strong...keep strong Tohru." She blinked knowing that she was only lying to herself. She knew deep down she wanted to get out of this alive. She wanted to find her friends. She wanted to pay her respects to her mother and father's alters in Japan. She secretly hoped there was a way out of this. But she knew there wasn't. Her friends thought she was in Paris. And Kyo and Momiji...

Tohru felt tears well up in her eyes. She began to cry silently hoping with her heart that she would remain strong. No matter what, she would always try to remain strong for the two who had given so much to her. Kyo and Momiji wouldn't come. They _shouldn't_ come. She would bear whatever it took to keep them safe...

...

"I bought bread."

It was the day after Tohru had gone missing. Momiji and Kyo had both split up since sunrise to search the whole city of Paris for her. Momiji eyed Kyo for a moment. He set the bag full of bread down on the dining room table and sighed slumping into a chair. "I searched everywhere, the shopping districts, apartments, called police officers. Nothing. No one saw a girl with a yellow ribbon and long brown hair."

"The train station?"

"All have nothing about Tohru Honda. Except, maybe they used a car to kidnap her... who knows?"

Kyo stayed silent for a moment. Momiji glanced at him, and seeming to want to vent his frustration, he reached inside the bag and took out a Gombo pan bread. Ripping the wrapper with his teeth he began to angrily chow down on the bread.

Kyo watched him silently before saying "I searched the airlines. Nothing about her."

"Thughtnso" Momiji mumbled glumly through a mouth full of bread.

"And they don't seem to be hinting at taking her abroad...lest we know she could be in a basement somewhere being tortured." His expression darkened as he said the words.

"Ae'theagniwma!"

"What?" Kyo asked sharply.

Momiji gulped down his huge mouthful and coughed. "What if they went back to Japan on a private jet?"

"That's also a possibility...but would Akito go that far for one little girl?"

"I don't know...you probably know him better then I do."

"Not helping."

At that exact moment the phone rang. Kyo and Momiji both froze.

_Bring! Bring! _

"Who would call us at this hour?" Momiji whispered to Kyo. Kyo only silently shook his head and darted for the phone. Picking it up in mid-ring he answered.

"Hello?"

"Ahhhh Kyo. It's been a while."

Kyo froze. His eyes widened as he registered the voice.

Momiji took in Kyo's frozen stance of horror and mouthed "Who is it?"

In reply, Kyo turned on the Speaker phone.

"Are you enjoying your little rebellion with young Momiji?"

Momiji's eyes widened with horror. "Akito.." He whispered.

"What do you want?" Kyo asked sharply.

Akito laughed in the other end. "It's not what I want Kyo-chan. It's what I _have_."

At this both Kyo and Momiji glanced at one another. _Tohru_.

"Where is she?" Kyo managed to ask.

"Oh such in a hurry! I thought we could talk since it's been a while. Family to family."

"I don't have time for your shit. Spill, where is she?"

"Now Kyo...no need to use such crude language. What if it hurts young Tohru here?"

Momiji began to shake. "Where the hell is she?" He mouthed to Kyo.

Kyo simply shook his head at him. "Tell us. What do you want?"

"I don't _want_ anything. How about you come visit me here in Venice and we can have a nice long chat? I do feel bad about the scar I gave you Kyo...I mean I was such in the moment that I didn't mean to...hurt you."

Kyo clenched the table his knuckles going white. "Sure you did. That's understandable." He spit through gritted teeth.

"Yes, yes, yes. But for now, how about you come and meet me here with young Tohru? It would be so lovely. We can talk about our family matters. I feel bad how the things ended the way it did."

"I'm sure you do."

"Ahhh now now. Choose your words carefully Kyo, we wouldn't want poor Tohru to get hurt now would we? "

"Where is she?" Kyo repeated.

"Here, here. Tohru-chan is fine. Aren't you Tohru? Greet your friend Kyo for me."

"H-hello?"

Kyo and Momiji both froze at the voice.

"T-Tohru?!" Momiji yelled.

"M-Momiji-kun! No! You can't come here. It's all a part of his pla-!"

She was cut off and a sound of something crashing came in the line.

Momiji began to tear up clenching the table. "Kyo! What do we do! He's torturing her!" He shouted.

"I know." Kyo whispered, unable to move. He stared in horror at the phone while the sounds continued.

Finally, there was a buzzing sound and suddenly Akito said in the line. "Milano Hotel. Venice. See you here."

The line then suddenly cut off and the two were left to the remains of the ringing after tone.

They remained silent. Momiji sniffled a bit and began to get his bag. Kyo stopped him and grabbed his arm. "The hell you think you're doing?"

Momiji yanked his arm free and glared at Kyo. "I'm going to save Tohru."

"Momiji. Think. This is exactly what Akito wants from us!"

"I know! But what can we do?! If we don't go after her she'll die!"

"I we go after all we'll all die! Just calm down and shut up for a moment. Let me think!"

Momiji glared at Kyo but otherwise didn't comment. He trusted and knew Kyo enough to know that he was rational when it came to hard situations. Especially situations when it involved Akito. He threw the bag he was holding down on the ground and watched as Kyo concentrated.

Kyo was silent for a moment scrunching his hair. After what felt like ages of silence, Kyo got up and turned to look at Momiji. "Alright. We're going after her. But we'll need to make a plan."

Momiji paused but felt his face brighten into a grin. "I like the way you think."

...

"Please...stop."

"Please, stop, master."

"Please...stop...m-master." Tohru blinked tears threatening to blur her eyes. Her head was pressed against the floor. Akito's foot was on top of her head. The moment she had met him, she had felt the fear creep into her system. He was small, but strong, and dangerous.

"Now Tohru. Stop crying. If you keep crying what will I do to Kyo and Momiji?"

Tohru immediately tried to hide her tears. She gulped and tried to move out of the position she was in. "A-Akito-sama."

"Yes dear Tohru?"

"Please let me up."

"I guess I will if you insist." Akito crooned, his voice traveling lower into a colder tone. He lifted his foot off of her head and Tohru slowly got up, her head throbbing from the pain of being hit by several objects.

"Now, Tohru. What is it you wish to say?" Akito merely straightened his Kimono and barely looked at her.

Tohru breathed in and out before saying. "What is the curse?"

A cold silence spread between the two. Akito had entered the room expecting to see a girl trembling, sobbing, hurt, and broken, But he had been surprised to see a girl staring straight into his eyes, defiant, energetic, and so...curious.

"What?" He said coldly.

"What is-"

"I hear you the first time little bitch." He grabbed her mouth and yanked her forward to look at her. Tohru blinked but stood her ground as he stared at her.

"You want to know about the curse?"

"Yes."

"Who told you this?" He shouted.

"The man with the scar on his left eye"

"Ahhh..." He smiled. He immediately calmed himself and let go of her face. He then motioned to the door. "Kiyomi?"

"Yes Akito-sama." A young girl appeared. The same one who had offered Tohru the bowl of water.

Not looking at the little girl Akito spoke. "Why don't you tell Hatori to go take care of...ah young Jasper?" He smiled at Tohru. It was such a crude smile. Tohru immediately felt extremely frightened. He looked too satisfied. Too happy at what she had asked...

"J-Jasper-san sir?" The girl looked alarmed at his words, as if sensing the danger.

"Yes...Hatori will understand."

The girl hurriedly bowed and left without another word. After she had shut the door, Akito grinned at Tohru and brought her face closer to his. "See that Tohru Honda? That is the power I hold as the head of the Sohma Family. Everything under me. Everyone obeying me. And now...thanks to you young Jasper is dead." He laughed loudly and let Tohru slump to the ground. Tohru's eyes widened with horror. What had she done?!

Akito continued to laugh and turned to leave. Before leaving however, he paused at the door and said "Oh...by the way Tohru. The curse is unbreakable. No matter what it is, you won't be able to do anything about it."

With that he slammed the door shut. The tears that Tohru had tried so hard to fight back and hold onto during their conversation suddenly spilled out and a sob echoed through her body.

...

Days went past. Tohru became thinner and thinner. After the last encounter with Akito-sama, nobody had visited Tohru. Not even the little girl with the bowl of water.

"Endlessly...softly..." Tohru whispered to herself. She began to hum softly staring at the only visible light the room offered from the small window high above her.

"Go the grass green...grow to mellow.. I'll see you tomorrow..." She whispered tracing the bamboo mat with her finger.

"And I'll bring you...home."

"Chirp"

Tohru blinked. She registered she wasn't alone in the room. She looked up and saw that a small golden sparrow was perched on the window sill. It looked down at her seeming to understand her song.

"H-Hello." Tohru smiled faintly at the bird. The bird tilted its head to the side. It chirped to her.

"Yes. My name is Tohru. Nice to meet you." Tohru bowed her head and smiled at the bird. It hurt to smile without having done so in so long.

"Chirp."

"Shhh." Tohru warned holding a finger to her lips. "Someone might hear you little one."

The bird suddenly flew off at her words and Tohru was once again left alone. She blinked wondering why a bird had flown so close inside to where she was.

"Blue..grass." Tohru began softly picking up her song again.

Then suddenly the bird was back. And in its beak it held a small piece of paper waded up.

Tohru's heart beat increased and she stared at the bird. Could it be coincidence? She got up and reached forward gently towards the bird. The bird dropped the note onto the window sill, and flew off. Tohru picked up the small piece of notebook paper that looked as if it had been folded many times to be extremely tiny.

Holding her breath she uncrumpled it. Smoothing it out Tohru read.

_"When the moon comes out. Yell."_

Tohru blinked. When the moon comes out...yell? She glanced at the window sill and noticed the day was still bright. Had it been Kyo or Momiji who had written the note?!

She blinked feeling hope rise in her chest. Just as suddenly as it had come however, she squashed it down. No. What if they got caught trying to get her?! What should she do?!

Tohru put the note in her mouth and swallowed it. Feeling the words in her mouth gave her conviction to try and trust them. When the moon comes out, she would yell.


	6. Chapter 6

Tohru ticked at her fingers until she was sure it was nighttime. She wasn't exactly sure when the moon came out. 6:30? 7?

When she finally knew it was time, Tohru took a deep breath in. How loud should she yell? She felt so frightened to do this.

Ouncing up large bits of her courage she bit her lip before screaming. "Ahhhhhh!"

Immediately, she heard footsteps approaching her room and several people outside bustling. The door slammed open and the man with jet black hair (who had been wearing the kimono at the dirty cell) appeared. He looked shocked as Tohru kept screaming. She covered her ears and screamed again and again as loud as she could.

"What are you doing?!" He shouted. He ran forwards to her and tried to muffle her mouth.

"Meanffmp! AHHHH!" Tohru kept screaming. She wasn't sure why Kyo and Momiji and told her to scream or yell. But she would keep doing it. She trusted them.

Several people had now come into the room. There were two small girls trying to calm her down, and some elders were inside the room.

"Should we get Akito-sama?!"

"Shut her up!"

"Why is she screaming?!"

Tohru felt several hands lock her down as she continued to scream. She bit the hands that tried to cover her mouth.

Shigure yelled at the door. "Get the guards! Tell them to bring a gag!"

At this Tohru kicked him in the chest and he doubled back. Soon the room was filled with several people, all trying to tie her down while the guards approached her with the gag.

Tohru felt them try to shove the cloth into her mouth but she only shouted louder.

Suddenly, someone shouted something loud and incomprehensible.

At this panic arose and Tohru blinked feeling most of the hands that had weighed her down let go of her.

"Guard her!" Shigure ordered before leaving the room with several others. Two guards stayed to guard her and Tohru felt them pull the gag around her mouth and tie it tightly around her head. What was going on?! Why were they all leaving?

All of a sudden something was thrown in the air, and the room filled with smoke. Something out of the air grabbed her and helped her up.

"Run." The voice commanded.

Tohru immediately registered the voice. It was Kyo.

She obeyed and the two got up to run out of the room and down the hallway.

"K-Kyo." She coughed against the muffled piece of cough.

"Hold on." He only replied.

He led the two down the hall and to the right opening into the garden way. Three girls were in the garden and stood up gasping as the two made their way through.

Kyo held up something and Tohru's stomach lurched as she realized he had a gun as well.

"Don't say anything." He warned.

The girls huddled together and whimpered at the sight of the gun. Kyo nodded to Tohru, and helped her up a large piece of furniture and pushed her so that she could grab onto the roof edge. He then pulled himself onto the roof and helped her get on top of it.

"Kyo...I can't...walk." Tohru gasped feeling her legs give out in fatigue.

Kyo took off his mask, and Tohru's gag and without delay hoisted her into his arms. Tohru gasped feeling the ground disappear and Kyo immediately ran with her in his arms across the large roof. Making his way to the edge, suddenly something knocked Kyo to the ground. Tohru tumbled out of his arms and knocked into the wall feeling a sharp pain in her shoulder.

She almost screamed out in surprise but stopped. A guard had escaped the smoke and was holding a gun pointing it towards Kyo. Tohru got up immediately and tried to stop him but the guard merely pushed her hard to the ground. Kyo got up and jumped head first into the guard's chest. Kicking the gun out of his hand, Kyo delivered blows to the sides of the guard's head and pushed him to the ground. Pushing the guard's face to the ground he yelled at Tohru.

"Tohru! Jump!"

Tohru blinked and registered he meant for her to jump over roof. But how?!

Deciding not to question his orders, Tohru immediately pulled herself up and jumped over the roof. She dropped several feet below, feeling terrified, before landing straight into the blue water below.

At first she was relieved she had made it into the water, but soon Tohru's heart filled with dread. She knew she wouldn't be able to swim. Her arms and legs were not strong enough to move since she had been locked inside the room for so long...

A moment later she felt someone plunge into the water next to her, and she felt Kyo grab her and pull her up to rise above the water. Keeping her head above the water and supporting himself, he lead them through the canal. Soon the two had waded themselves through the water reaching a small harbor on the right.

Pulling themselves out of the water, coughing, and soaking wet, they lay there for a moment before Kyo got up and pulled Tohru onto his back.

Tohru felt something warm against her hand and her eyes grew wide. He was bleeding.

"K-Kyo! Wait you shouldn't carry me!"

"Hold on." Kyo only spit out and ran through the small forest area next to the canal before reaching the edge of the small city. Turning to look back, Tohru saw that she had been inside a hotel next to the large canal. Kyo took them through some small alleys before finding a narrow path way. He stumbled in the path way and finally the two slumped to the ground. Tohru rung out some of the water in her shirt but immediately got up and felt for the place she had felt blood.

"K-Kyo. Did he shoot you?!"

"No...he only grazed me." Kyo was breathing hard clutching his arm. He looked like he was about to lose consciousness.

"H-How did you find me?! Where's Momiji?"

"Momiji's..."He gasped for a breath of air. "Momiji's...there. He's distracting them."

Tohru gulped. Even thought she was worried, she focused on his injury. Pulling at the edge of her shirt she ripped a piece of cloth off before pressing it against the bleeding wound. The water soaked in the cloth immediately soaked up much of the blood that was seeping through.

Kyo cringed and leaned his head against the wall. She saw he was sweating from overexerting himself.

"Kyo...you're losing a lot of blood..." she whispered.

"Don't worry...this is nothing.." He swallowed but looked at her and gave her a small smirk. His voice was much weaker then before. Tohru's heart fell at the small smile he was giving her. It looked serious and painful...

Tohru's hands shook as she folded the sleeves of his shirt up to look at the wound better. It was a bit large but more then that the blood was refusing to stop so she couldn't exactly tell how big it was. She folded up his shirt and ripped out another piece of cloth from her shirt and began to wrap it around his arm tightly to stop the bleeding. Once she got it around she glanced at Kyo as she tied it into a knot and saw that he was staring at her.

His eyes were more warm today. A topaz color if she put a name to it.

Tohru felt tears come into her eyes. He was badly injured...and because of her...and he didn't even look the least bit angry. Why?!

"Don't look like that.." He murmured. He let out a large sigh closing his eyes. "You look like the guiltiest person ever..."

She shook her head warm tears now spilling down her face. "S-Sorry Kyo-kun. I-I'm so sorry..."

Kyo opened his eyes and stared at her. Slowly he raised his uninjured arm into the air and reached forward as if to caress the side of her face. But deciding against it, he let it slowly fall and instead brushed her long hair to the side.

"You're safe...then it's fine." He murmured. "We got you out right? Shouldn't you being saying thank you?"

Tohru blinked through her tears and looked at him. He gave her a weak grin and slowly his eyes fell closed.

"K-Kyo.." Tohru blinked and shook him slightly but only felt how hot and tired he was. "Kyo-kun?! Kyo?!"

She continued to shake him but his eyes wouldn't open.

Tohru gulped and swallowed her tears. Seeing Kyo weak made her feel more scared then encountering Akito. It was something she felt like she couldn't have even imagined. But now that she was the one responsible for him...she knew she had to do everything she could.

She looked around the alley and saw that luckily Kyo and brought them into a place where it was discreet from the crowds of tourists walking along the canals. It was fairly quiet despite the large noises they were nearby.

She also looked around for traces of blood, but no blood had fallen while they had run. There was only the blood surrounding where Kyo sat from over bleeding. She looked at Kyo's hand and saw that it was also covered in blood. He must have been covering it as he had carried her...

Tohru took the used ripped piece of cloth and gently wiped Kyo's hands clean with it. She then wiped her own hands and cleared the boxes around them so that Kyo could rest his head a bit more comfortably against the wall. She then sat next to him and gently rest his head against her shoulder.

For a moment Tohru was simply silent. She wondered what she could do in a situation like this...she wanted to take him to the hospital...but Akito had probably found out about his injury from the guard he had knocked down.

She could try finding a hotel and using his money to find a room. But she wasn't sure if she was strong enough to carry Kyo...or if there were people in the streets looking for them.

And Momiji...where was Momiji? Kyo had said Momiji was distracting the guards...is that why everyone had left her when she had screamed?

Tohru let out a sigh and decided to wait it out. She also felt that Kyo-kun's head was getting a bit warmer. She had to find something like an antibiotic...or medicine?!

Tohru gulped and felt something poking against her side. Shifting herself a bit so that she wouldn't bother Kyo she reached inside his jacket to take it out. It was the gun.

Tohru examined the gun. It was a small jet black gun that was small but looked powerful enough to kill. She gently caressed the trigger before settling it down into her lap. If someone found them...she wasn't sure if she could use it on them...but she could at least injure them as much as they had injured Kyo...

Feeling herself grow a bit tired, but refusing to expose herself, Tohru kept her eyes wide open and decided to stand guard until Kyo woke up...

...

Several hours past and it was soon dark when Kyo finally shifted to the side. He let out a groan of pain.

"K-Kyo! You ok? Does it hurt a lot?" Tohru immediately supported his weight helping him lean against her.

"The hell..." He only replied struggling to get up from leaning against her shoulder and blinked his eyes open. "Damnit, Momiji was supposed to have met us here 2 hours ago..."

"M-Momiji?!" Tohru asked.

"Yea...did he come?" His voice grew louder as he woke up and he got up to look at her.

"No...he didn't." Tohru said.

Kyo stayed silent for a moment. "I see..."

"A-Are you ok? Can you get up?"

"Not really, but it's not a large wound. It'll get better. Tohru we have to get going it's getting dark..."

Tohru nodded and helped Kyo get up before he took her hand in his. Tohru felt how hot it was. It was so large compared to hers..

"I need to lean on you if that's ok. I reserved a place early on nearby...look around for the number 1034."

Tohru simply nodded and helped Kyo down the alley before he turned and made a right into the market square. The two walked and arrived down a lane where small doors were on either side of the alley.

Tohru continued to walk feeling Kyo's weight push into her hand. He was having difficulty walking but said nothing and continued to move forward. His hand felt very hot, but he held tightly onto her as he walked.

"1028...1032...103-!" Tohru stopped in front a small green door with worn out letters.

"Yea. It's here." He sighed in relief.

Letting go of Tohru's hand Kyo reached into his pocked and pulled out a key. Inserting it into the door he opened the door and the two quickly got inside. Kyo shut the door behind them locking it twice.

Once inside Tohru found that it was a small loft. More like a one bedroom apartment. There was a kitchen in the corner, a small table to the side, and a bed that was in the middle of the room.

Kyo flicked on the switches and the room got a bit more bright.

Tohru immediately turned to Kyo. "Kyo...you should rest..."

"I will..." Kyo murmured before slumping himself onto the edge of the bed and laying down sighing. "Tohru...if someone knocks on the door, just wake me up. Don't say anything."

"Ok.." Tohru nodded.

Kyo shook his head and got up cringing at the pain. "What am I saying. I cant sleep with only you to guard.."

"I can guard! I have the gun..."

"And you can shoot someone with it?"

Tohru gulped feeling her lies get knocked down.

He shook his head. "No. I'll guard."

"T-Then...maybe you should eat something?"

"Yea...I'm starving."

Tohru immediately smiled happy she could help with at least something. Going to the cabinets she found packets of ramen already stashed. She assumed Kyo and Momiji had already notified for it to be stashed just in case.

Filling a pot with water and heating it up for the ramen, Tohru shifted around the kitchen for a first aid kit. She finally found one inside a small cabinet and smiled triumphant.

Walking up to Kyo she sat next to him and opened it. "Kyo-kun take off your shirt."

"What?" He blinked at her.

"I-I mean...your wound..." She stuttered feeling herself blush a bit.

"Oh...yea.."

He immediately unbuttoned his shirt and took it off, revealing his muscular chest. Normally Tohru would have been quite flustered in this situation...however after everything that had happened she was more concerned about the wound. It was funny how things changed so quickly.

Tohru took the arm that had been injured and untied the cloth surrounding the wound. Setting it down, Tohru bit her lip as she saw it had stopped bleeding, but was a bit more inflamed and more harsher then before.

"Kyo...I'm going to disinfect it..hold tight."

"Yes..Nurse Tohru."

Tohru giggled but quickly grew serious as she dabbed a cotton pad with disinfectant and applied it to the wound. Tohru felt the muscles in his arm tighten but Kyo merely clenched his teeth and didn't say a word.

Once she had finished, Tohru dabbed some medicine on it and got out the gauze that was in the case. She wrapped it around his arm tightly and finally secured it with a pin.

Taking his shirt, Tohru said. "I'll wash out the blood. I can dry it with the dryer and give it back to you soon. Hang tight."

Kyo merely nodded to her and felt with his other arm the bandage that was securing his wound.

Shuffling her feet Tohru made her way to the bathroom and began to rinse out the blood on the shirt inside the sink. Using soap and warm water Tohru scrubbed it away. As Tohru scrubbed she felt how unusual the situation was. She was making ramen for Kyo...and she was rinsing out his blood soaked shirt...after having been imprisoned inside Akito's vacation home...and now she wasn't sure of the future. However, she felt extremely relieved that she was now not alone...

Finishing his shirt Tohru squeezed out the water and set it on the heater to dry before making her way to the kitchen and gasped spotting Kyo putting the ramen noodles inside the boiling water.

"K-Kyo kun! You should rest! I-I'll make it!" She made her way trying to grab the chopsticks out of his hands but he neatly dodged her and smirked.

"You know Tohru. I'm feeling a bit better. And you treated me. I can at least make ramen."

"B-But.."

"Tohru are you implying I cant even make food for myself?"

"N-no...but still..."

She grew silent and watched as he emptied out the packed of soup base into the pot and continued to stir the noodles.

"Doesn't it... still hurt?"

He was silent for a moment.

"I've been hurt worse." He only replied.

As if this had triggered a memory, Tohru remembered Kyo had a large scar on his back...but now looking a bit closer she saw that his arms had a few scars as well... All looking like burns and deep gashes...

"But still..." She only murmured.

Kyo turned to her and pointed at her shirt.

"You have blood stains, you know that?"

"W-what?" Tohru exclaimed and examined her shirt. She saw that the edges were soaked with his blood.

"Oh..."

"You can't go around looking like that. Take your shirt off."

"No!" She almost screamed and instinctively clutched her chest. Kyo's eyes widened in surprise before he began to laugh. He laughed shaking and clutching the counter supporting himself. Tohru settled down and stared at him. It was so rare to hear him laugh like that...but now that she had heard it a few times, she was beginning to think he was warmer then she had thought...

He finishing laughing and wiped his eyes. "I'm joking Tohru... You can wear my shirt. I'll wash your shirt until it's dry, how about that?"

"S-sure.."

Tohru nodded and smiled at him glad his mood was up now that his wound was clean and his shirt was clean as well. Kyo turned off the heat for the stove and got out two bowls to cleanly pour the ramen into.

Taking the food to the table. Tohru got two forks and two sat down to eat.

"Itadaikimas" Tohru said quietly clapping her hands.

Kyo merely clapped his hands in a similar way.

Tohru excitedly grabbed her fork. She hadn't eaten in 2 days...She was awfully hungry. As if knowing this, her stomach suddenly made an extremely loud growling sound that echoed across the room.

Kyo stopped using his silverware for a moment and glanced at her.

Tohru blushed feeling her face grow a bit red. He always caught her at embarrassing moments!

He paused and the corners of his mouth twitched before he let out a small chuckle.

"You haven't eaten in a while?"

"N-no...Well...Akito only gave me rice and water...and before you came I was locked in that room the whole time." Tohru stuttered fumbling with her fork before picking up pieces of ramen.

"Go ahead, not stopping you."

Tohru shot him a glance which he merely avoided and continued to eat calmly.

She smiled. She was happy that they were back to the mutual relationship they had always been in. She wanted to cherish small moments of peace like this without worrying about what they would do in the future...

Finishing up her bowl in merely minutes Tohru asked. "What about Momiji?"

"Momiji...he hasn't sent me a text..." Kyo had also finished and he began to get up and heated up an instant rice bowl in the microwave. "Want some rice?"

"Sure."

"And if they got him..." He trailed off. Tohru merely looked at him in silence. They both knew how it would have ended if Momiji had been caught by Akito. But Tohru wished with all of her heart that wasn't what had happened...

"Well. The rice is almost done. I'm going to heat another one."

"Sure.." Tohru whispered staring at her bowl of soup.

Kyo finally returned and handed her a bowl of rice before dumping the rest of the rice into his soup and eating it with a spoon.

Tohru had almost forgotten how much more men usually ate more then women.

"Kyo...then are we going to wait here until Akito leaves?"

"He won't leave. Not when he knows all three of us are in Venice...with him here..."

Kyo stopped eating for a moment to think. "I think if we lay low and watch out until Momiji can get here. We should find a way for them to leave the city, or for us to leave. That's the only way for now."

"I see." Tohru nodded. When the two finished eating, they did the dishes quietly together and after washing and drying both of their shirts, Tohru was suddenly faced with the question of where to sleep.

"What are you wondering about?" Kyo asked. Tohru jumped. She hadn't realized he had been behind her.

"Well...there's only one bed..."

"We have to share it." Kyo said simply. He jumped onto the bed and spread himself on the right side sighing.

"But...I've never..." Tohru trailed off not knowing how to explain to him the fact that she had never slept next to a guy before...much less a guy who was around her age and very attractive...

"Tohru if you sleep somewhere else I won't be able to protect you fast enough in case something happens. You'll have to sleep next to me for now."

"O-Okay..." Tohru stuttered and she climbed into the opposite side of the bed and pulled the blankets up to her chin.

Kyo glanced at her and turned to face her. "Don't worry I won't do anything. Just sleep."

"Mmmk..." Tohru nodded and she blinked at him. He looked at her taking in her expression before turning to face his back to her and looked away. "Ok. Good night."

"Goodnight."

Kyo turned the lights off that were on the bed stand and the two were engulfed into darkness.

It was very silent...Tohru couldn't even hear what was going on outside..

She could only feel her heart beat drumming in her ears...she wasn't sure how she could fall asleep in this situation...

She felt Kyo shift a bit moving right then left, before setting onto his back.

"Kyo...is your arm hurting?" Tohru asked quietly.

"No..."

"..."

"Are you lying?"

"You got me." The two silently laughed for a moment. Tohru smiled and clutched at the blankets. She felt very warm when he was next to her.

"I hope it gets better soon..."

"Didn't you get hurt too? That guy who knocked you over..."

"No...that didn't hurt so much."

"Really?"

The two were silent for a moment, when suddenly Kyo asked.

"Tohru...what did Akito say to you?"

Tohru swallowed. She had tried to suppress the memories of her and Akito being alone in a room together. It had been terrifying...maybe even traumatic.

"He...he would sometimes yell at me...or grab me...or kick me...anything really. He just wanted to see me cry."

She heard Kyo take a sharp intake of breath. She went on. "But...it's ok. I'm fine really."

Kyo merely mumbled. "I'm sorry..."

Tohru blinked a bit surprised at his apology. "Kyo-kun...you seem...a lot more nicer to me..."

"Mmm really?"

"Yes...why is that?"

Kyo was silent for a moment but he finally answered. "Well...I think I knew I could trust you. And I realized...it's our fault you got targeted by the Sohma family.."

"I see." Tohru nodded to herself.

"You're not that bad Tohru."

Tohru's smile grew wider at his compliment.

"Really?! I'm not that bad?!" She scooted closer a bit feeling elated. "You mean you like being my friend?!"

"Now let's not jump into conclusions...I only said you're not that bad.." Kyo said annoyed but there was the hint of a smile in his voice.

Tohru smiled and nodded. "Yes...but still!"

She wrapped herself in the blankets a bit more and sighed closing her eyes. "I'm really glad you guys came to get me...I was worried you and Momiji wouldn't be able to...but...I'm glad.."

There was a long pause. So long that she almost fell asleep. However, as she was in the midst of drifting off she thought she may have heard a gentle voice reply "I'm glad as well..."

.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning Tohru woke to the sounds of someone pounding on the door. Her ears perked as she realized the sounds were coming just outside their loft door. She rose up immediately wary and frightened of the situation. Looking to her right she noticed Kyo-kun was still fast asleep, his eyes gently closed and hair tousled to the side.

"Kyo kun.." Tohru whispered. She shook him lightly. Kyo immediately opened his eyes slowly and looked at her.

He took in her expression for a fraction of a second before immediately rising up and holding a hand to her mouth. Tohru blinked at him through wide eyes feeling more frightened.

He held up a warning finger to his lips indicating for her to remain quiet. The two sat still holding their breaths as the knocks continued on the door.

Tohru squeezed her hands together wondering who it was. Momiji? Akito-sama?

Finally the knocks subsided and a calm silence washed over the loft. Tohru and Kyo stayed still for a moment longer before Kyo got up silently and walked towards the door.

"Kyo kun.." Tohru whispered frightened. She was scared he was going to open the door.

Kyo silently opened the door a small inch and merely peered through the crack against the door and walked back to her just as silently.

"Lets move." He mouthed. Tohru nodded and she got up silently putting on her shoes. Kyo-kun put on his dress shirt and buttoned it before grabbing their backpack and putting some ramen noodles inside the bag. Putting on his shoes he help up a finger to warn Tohru. Tohru nodded and he went to the door and listened before cracking it fully open.

Tohru held her breath but sighed with relief when he turned and shook his head to her indicating there was no one outside. She made her way towards him and together the two examined the streets. It was silent and empty except for the bustle of tourists that could be heard just outside the other wall.

"Let's go." Kyo whispered. He let Tohru step outside before closing the door and locking it behind them.

"W-Where are we going to go?" Tohru asked.

"To find Momiji." He replied.

With that Tohru followed Kyo as he quickly led them down the alley and to the canal. They were instantly met with a bustle of tourists and several people moving about.

"Kyo-kun...what if they find us in these crowds? Do you think it was Akito's men who were knocking on tour door?" Tohru asked nervously.

"It might have been them...or it might have been Momiji."

"Momiji?!" Tohru repeated feeling a bubble of hope well in her chest. The fact that he had been so near would have been a comforting thought.

"But...what if they see us right now?"

"They won't...there's too many people here that it'll be hard to spot us. And even if they do, they can't shoot their weapons in risk of being arrested."

"I-I see."

"Even so, you can't lose sight of me once." Kyo said firmly looking at her straight in the eyes. Tohru nodded once swallowing. Kyo led them down the bustling tourist area and stopped by a vendor to grab some sandwiches for the two of them.

"Where would Momiji be though?" Tohru asked as the two ate their food while they walked.

"I have two ideas. We'll try the first."

Soon they had made their way to the market square area and Kyo pointed towards the crowd.

"He might be in there somewhere."

"Really?!" Tohru blinked examining the large overcrowded area. She couldn't make out a tall blonde haired boy anywhere. People were laughing and passing one another and bumping into one another in the process.

"Where..?" Tohru examined each person walking by but couldn't find Momiji anywhere. "What do you mean..?"

"You'll find out later." Kyo answered. He examined the crowded area but Tohru felt a bit puzzled. Although there were a large amount of people, she knew Momiji fairly well enough to spot him. He usually stood out because of his lean figure and tousled blonde hair. However, everyone was either Italian or tourists inside the square. No one his size seemed to even be there.

"Kyo-kun...I don't think he's there." Tohru said glumly.

"Wait.." Kyo continued to examine the crowd and finally gave up and turned to her. "Tohru look for a yellow rabbit."

"Ah wah?" Tohru blinked.

"About the size of a cat you could say." He continued and pulled her arm leading them in a different direction.

"W-wait I thought we were looking for Momiji?"

"I'll explain later. Just look for the rabbit."

Tohru sighed and felt bewildered but knew she had to simply trust Kyo-kun.

The two made their way through the streets of Venice examining stalls and under counters for the trace of a small rabbit. But soon it was beginning to turn into the late afternoon and they came up empty.

"Kyo-kun...are you sure we should be looking for a rabbit?" Tohru asked as they made their way back to their loft.

"I'm positive."

"Does the rabbit have a clue with it?"

"Yes."

"Does it know Momiji?"

"Yes."

Tohru felt even more confused. She felt like Kyo-kun was toying with her.

Soon they arrived in front of the small loft and Tohru almost jumped in surprise. There waiting in front of their door was a small golden rabbit with startling green eyes.

"K-K-Kyo-kun! A rabbit! A rabbit! "

"I know I know." Kyo grinned and ran towards the rabbit. The rabbit dodged his grasp neatly and hopped its way towards Tohru landing near her feet.

"Hello.." Tohru said softly hoping not to scare it away. It was extremely small and adorable.

"Hey...get back here." Kyo sighed annoyed at the rabbit.

The rabbit circled around Tohru wiggling its small tail. Tohru giggled. It seemed to like her.

Kyo merely took his keys out and opened the door to their loft. "Oi get in."

"Kyo-kun rabbits don't understa-" But as soon as the words were coming out of her mouth Tohru watched in alarm as the rabbit hopped away from her and inside the loft disappearing inside.

"K-K-Kyo kun! It went inside! We have to catch it!" She said frantically making her way inside and looking around for it. Kyo shook his head grinning. "No it's fine Tohru. The rabbit's safe."

He closed the door behind them and locked it twice before turning on the lights. Tohru saw that the rabbit had perched itself on top of their bed snuggling into the bed sheets.

"Aw...It's...really cute." Tohru smiled making her way towards it. She sat on the edge of the bed and gently reached out her hands towards it. The rabbit sat quite still as she stroked its back.

"Ok...enough. Stop acting like a baby." Kyo sighed taking off his coat and hanging it to the side.

Tohru frowned and scooted closer to the rabbit. At this the rabbit hopped once and perched itself onto her lap.

"Kyo-kun I think he really likes me." Tohru smiled petting the rabbit gently.

"Of course. It's Momiji. Why wouldn't he like you?"

Tohru froze, her hands stopping in the middle of the rabbit's back. She stared at Kyo her eyes wide. He simply stared back at her unsurprised and casual.

"What?!"

"It's Momiji. Aren't you Momiji?" Kyo asked tilting his head to the side at the rabbit.

The rabbit opened its mouth and let out an angry hissing noise directed towards Kyo. Tohru blinked feeling herself unable to move. "W-Wait. How can this be Momiji?!"

Kyo walked forward and took the rabbit from Tohru's lap and held it into the air facing it towards Tohru.

"Tohru. This is Momiji Sohma. The year of the rabbit."

Tohru blinked unsure if Kyo had gone crazy, or if he was trying to make a weird joke.

"Errr..."

She gasped when the rabbit's mouth curved upwards into a small smile and it nodded its head to her.

"I-i-i- think it understands!"

"Toldya."

"Momiji-kun?!"

The rabbit nodded once more and hopped out of Kyo's grasp next to Tohru.

Tohru sat there frozen unable to believe the situation. The rabbit was Momiji? Momiji-kun was a rabbit?! How on earth was he able to have turned into an animal?!

Her hands gently reached out towards the rabbit and it snuggled against her side.

"Momiji kun...is it really you?" She breathed as she stroked its back. The rabbit hopped up and down and ran around the bed in circles.

She laughed feeling herself loosen up slightly. "It's too smart to just be a rabbit right?"

"Well...he's not exactly smart to begin with.."

"Will he turn back though?"

"He will eventually. But for a while he'll be stuck in rabbit form." Kyo nodded to her and sat next to Momiji aka the rabbit sitting on the bed. "How'd you get out?" He asked it.

The rabbit stopped running in circles and shook its tail at Kyo. Kyo's mouth curved into a grin seeming to understand. "You tricked them?"

The rabbit hopped once and shook its tail again.

"I see."

Tohru laughed at the small interaction. "Momiji-kun it feels so weird to talk to you like this."

"Don't worry he'll turn back soon enough." Kyo said.

"But...I don't understand...why is Momiji-kun the year of the rabbit?"

The rabbit leapt once more and landed in her lap snuggling to her. Tohru gently stroked it and waited as Kyo seemed to contemplate what to say.

"You've heard about that story as a kid right? How the Junishi all attended a banquet for God, and the animals all lined up to get there?"

"Yes..." Tohru said thoughtfully. "It's a really old story. But I really liked it!"

"And there was a cat...that was tricked by the rat." Kyo continued. "And so it was shunned by the members of the Junishi. Do you remember that part as well?"

"Yes...I felt so bad for the cat. It was my favorite animal."

"Your favorite?" He raised his eyes at her seeming a bit apprehensive.

"Yes!" Tohru smiled happily to him. "And I especially liked the boar and tiger as well!"

"They'd like to hear that I guess..." He trailed off.

"But...Kyo-kun what does this have to do with Momiji-kun being a rabbit?" Tohru asked tilting her head.

Kyo froze and looked at her with wary eyes. He knew what he would say would indefinitely include her in everything. But to have an outsider find out so easily about the curse...it made him a bit wary. She would be put in even more danger now that she was fully in the in.

"Tohru...Momiji's the rabbit in the story. The exact rabbit. And the cat in the story is me."

Tohru blinked at him. "Wait...but the story is really old..."

"I know." He nodded. "That's why there have been several generations of the zodiacs in the Sohma family. What we meant by the curse is this...if one of us hug the member of the opposite sex, or get extremely tired...then we turn into our zodiac animal given to us at birth."

"Oh.." Tohru whispered. "You mean...Momiji turned into the rabbit?!"

"Yes...he must have been stressed trying to conceal himself. Sometimes when we change can be unpredictable or forced by will...if you try hard enough..."

"I see...but then why is that such a huge cur-"

POOF!

Suddenly, the room was engulfed in a large amount of pink smoke. Tohru couldn't see anything in front of her and she smelled the faint smell of roses before the smoke cleared revealing Kyo-kun in front of her. However, what had changed was the rabbit that had been sitting in her lap had disappeared. In its' place was a completely naked tall lean blond haired man with bright green eyes. His arms draped over Tohru's legs and his knees rested on the wooden floor.

Momiji blinked swishing his hair out of his face with his hand. "Oh... I guess I transformed back faster then I had expected."

"GAHHHHHHHHHH!" Tohru screamed leaping up and covering her eyes. Her face immediately grew bright red. She had seen something she would rather have not seen...

"GAHHHHH!" Momiji yelled back seeming to realize the situation, and ran headfirst into the bed covering himself with the bed sheets. "S-S- Sorry Tohru! Really Sorry!"

Kyo stood up and merely shook his head, dusting off some of the remains of the smoke. "And you say I have no manners?!" He scoffed.

"I thought I'd change back near nighttime!" Momiji whined loudly hiding himself under the bed sheets. He wiggled around in the bed in embarrassment and wrapped himself fully in the blankets as if he was a burrito.

Tohru slowly opened her eyes, but kept her hands around her face in case she saw something again. She was still extremely red but couldn't help herself going back to where Momiji was.

"M-M-M-Momiji-kun... Is it really you?" She stammered feeling herself grow weak at the knees.

Momiji peeked his head out from under the covers and smiled sheepishly at her, his face also a bit red. "Sorry Tohru. Kyo didn't get to the part about us transforming back did he? Yea...when we turn back, we're usually completely naked."

"Ahhh I-I see." Tohru stammered turning around. "We still have your old clothes inside the backpack!Y-Y-You can change into them."

"Thanks!" Momiji blushed but went towards the backpack and changed into his old clothes. Finally when Momiji had finished wearing his pants and ruffled blouse once more the three faced one another sitting on the large bed together.

"I'm so glad you're ok Momiji-kun!" Tohru smiled happily at him, now that he was fully clothed and the embarrassment was wearing off. Momiji gave her a bright smile back.

"You're ok right?" He asked concerned. "Akito didn't hurt you?"

"I'm fine...Kyo got hurt protecting me though..."

"Not a big deal." Kyo said through his teeth when Momiji glanced shocked at Kyo.

"Oh. Good! I was worried..."

"But Momiji-kun how on earth did you manage to get out of there?!" Tohru asked scooting closer to him. Momiji gave her a gentle smile.

"Tohru we decided to get you out as soon as we found out you were gone. Me and Kyo found a plan because Akito gave us the address of the place you were at. I think he was expecting both of us to come and get you...but I also think that he thought you would be too dumb to escape since he didn't know much about you. But I think he underestimated all of us. I distracted them at the front making a huge fuss while Kyo went to go get you. That way there would be less people guarding you. I ran into a women and since rabbits are fast I managed to escape after I transformed. I almost got shot though."

"S-S-S-Shot?!" Tohru gasped.

"Don't worry I dodged it." Momiji held up his arm proudly. "And luckily I used a smoke bomb to create more distractions."

"What else did you notice?" Kyo asked seeming to listen carefully.

"Well..." Momiji trailed off thoughtfully. "I thought it was weird that Akito wasn't in the midst of it at all...and I was even more surprised to see Shigure there. Guess he's working for Akito now.."

"Oh no.." Tohru whispered her face going a bit white. "Momiji-kun you told me to avoid him. Shigure-san! But...he was the first Sohma I met!"

"You met him?!" Momiji asked his eyes growing wide. "Did he do anything to you?!"

"N-No...he was actually quite friendly?!" She was surprised Momiji was so wary of Shigure. Honestly, Shigure had been fairly creepy...but he hadn't done anything to harm her so she saw him as relatively harmless.

"It's all an act." Kyo cut in. "He's a perverted dog."

"Well...guess it's safe now that Tohru's here and I'm here you know?!" Momiji grinned elbowing Kyo in the side.

"Yea yea..." Kyo smiled gently at Momiji. "Glad you're alive."

"That's all you say after I risked my life going in after Tohru?!" Momiji pouted his lower lip jutting out.

Tohru smiled at the two of them. "Momiji-kun...really...I can't thank you enough..."

"I knew you would say that so shh." Momiji held a finger up to her lips. Tohru stopped in midsentence and stared at him wide eyed.

"I'm just glad you're safe Tohru." He smiled at her. "It was fine...really...and you even got hurt trying to get my birthday cake!"

"Oh! You found out about that!" Tohru smiled but let out a glum sigh. "It's such a waste..."

"We could buy another one you know." Kyo pitched in.

The two paused for a moment before they immediately brightened in excitement.

"Really?!"

"Cake?!"

"You guys hold on...I'll first see if there's a close place nearby..."

"But isn't Momiji's birthday over?"

"CAKE?!"

"Yea but we didn't get to celebra-"

"CAKE?!"

"SHUT UP!" Kyo through a pillow at Momiji. Tohru laughed with Momiji and smiled feeling the warmth build again inside of her once more.

...

To avoid being separated, that night Tohru made Momiji a cake from scratch. Momiji helped (kind of) and Kyo helped (more than Momiji) and finally they had made a small chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.

"Momiji-kun...happy birthday." Tohru smiled slicing him a piece of the pancake.

Momiji grinned at her excitedly taking the plate. "I'm starving. I was a rabbit for only a day but do you know how much there's nothing to eat around in Venice for rabbits? I had to steal some berries from a food cart cuz I was so hungry."

"Really? Can rabbits eat berries?" Tohru asked.

"No...well I don't really know. I honestly just eat anything if I'm hungry." Momiji smiled taking a large bite of the cake. "Mmmm better then Paris."

"You're exaggerating." Kyo said calmly while taking a bite of the slice Tohru had handed him. "But at least we have food."

"Yes.." Tohru smiled. "And we're together."

"Ahhhhh the reunion." Momiji sighed happily eating his slice all up and reaching for another one.

"But we do have to figure out what we're going to do...I feel like Akito was too easy on us." Kyo murmured. "There's something off. It's was way too simple to get Tohru out."

"What do you mean simple?! I almost got shot, you hurt your arm, Tohru almost drowned." Momiji complained his mouth barely keeping all of the cake in.

"Yes..." Kyo agreed. "But the fact that he kept her in a room so nearby. Did he want us to get her? Did he want you to make a distraction?" Kyo murmured, but seeming to start talking to only himself.

"I did find it weird that I wasn't locked in the room." Tohru commented. "I was just tied up the whole time..."

"What did Akito tell you Tohru?" Kyo asked suddenly.

"He...said I could do nothing to break the curse." Tohru said immediately remembering the last words Akito had spoke to her. "He said you guys are bonded for life..."

Momiji and Kyo glanced at one another and stayed silent for a moment. It had been too easy. Too simple. It was almost as if Akito was taunting them with the words he had spoken to Tohru...

"He's trying to say we can't escape from him. Even with Tohru." Kyo concluded.

"What?!"

"Think about it. If he let Tohru go, he knew that we would somehow come back to him in the end because of the curse. But...why...?"

"I don't know." Momiji shrugged and continued to eat. He had eaten almost half the cake by himself by now.

"Kyo-kun...maybe we shouldn't worry about it?" Tohru asked nervously.

"Sorry..." Kyo sighed. "I'm just getting ahead of myself."

Momiji silently glanced at the two of them for a moment keeping his fork in his mouth seeming to wish to say something. He then piped up "Are you two friends or something now?"

Both Tohru and Kyo jumped at his words. They glanced at one another, Kyo avoided her gaze and Tohru grew a bit red.

"W-w-well Kyo has saved me twice now!" Tohru stammered trying to explain.

"I mean we're stuck with her..." Kyo coughed.

"And he's been really nice to me!"

"Not like I can really avoid her. Plus the thing that happened with Akito.."

"And he was really thoughtful!"

"...not as bad as you maybe."

Momiji's eyes grew wide at their protests. "I didn't say I needed answers, I was just asking geez!"

Kyo let out a sigh of annoyance and tackled Momiji almost causing him to drop his plate. Tohru laughed feeling relieved that the tension was now a lot less then what it was before.

"Tohru! Kyo's bullying me!"

"Kyo-kun...Momiji had a hard time.."

"And I didn't? What happened to my arm?!"

"Oh! Is it not better yet?"

"Who cares about his arm, he almost dropped my cake!"

...

Night had fallen in Venice. Tohru quietly stepped outside the loft since Kyo had allowed her to go out for a couple of moments. It did feel very suffocating to remain home all day. Momiji was fast asleep after feeling worn out from being a rabbit so long. Tohru walked by the Canal that was slowly streaming by the cold stone paved streets. Various Venetian lamps glowed in the blue dim of the night and the air felt slightly cool. It didn't feel like Japan at all...there was some hidden mystery about the beautiful city...

"You're not sleeping?"

Tohru jumped and glanced behind her. Kyo had stepped out wearing his black sweater jacket and jeans. He ruffled his hair with his hand a bit indicating it was still a bit wet from his shower.

"Yes.." Tohru smiled at him. "Finished washing up?"

"Yea...finally. Momiji takes forever." Kyo said under his breath.

Tohru laughed. He was starting to show his affections for Momiji more and more now that they were a bit closer then before. He complained about Momiji constantly, but Tohru knew it was their way of showing their mutual affection for one another.

"Kyo-kun...am I allowed to walk towards the city?" She pointed to the direction where the pavements reflected light from the bright city lights.

"Mm.." Kyo glanced down the canal. "Actually...there's a place that's really nice at night. I know a way to get there without being spotted.."

He glanced at her. "That is...if you want to see it."

Tohru's eyes widened with excitement. "Really? Sure let's go!"

"Shhh." Kyo held a finger to his lips. "We'll have to be quiet though ok?"

Tohru nodded her excitement building. She really wanted to see the city of Venice at night. But most of all, she felt a small thrill from going somewhere with Kyo-kun. She wanted to get closer to him...and felt maybe this would help him open up to her.

Kyo indicated with his finger for her to follow. The two made their way down the alley but instead of leading her through the main roads, he squeezed into a small road that was cracked between the main road and the canal. Tohru followed as the two made their way down the road and across a long bridge over the Canal. Climbing up a few alleys more and more, turning to the right they finally reached a large open spaced hill. It was dark except for very high up. The hill overlooked the city of Venice sparkling below them. The wind was a bit more chilly up there and Tohru could see the lights of the gondolas on the harbor and hear some of the festival music travelling its way towards the hill.

Tohru took an intake of breath marveling at the beautiful sight before her. It was so beautiful she wanted to commit it to her heart and memory.

"Kyo-kun...it's so beautiful."

"It is." He agreed. He sat down on the grass and Tohru sat next to him distancing herself a bit so that he wouldn't feel uncomfortable.

The two were silent for a moment, admiring the brightly lit city, and the water of the canal stream flowing by.

Tohru couldn't contain the soft smile on her face as her eyes travelled all over the view. From the water, to the buildings, to the people in the market...

She shivered. It was actually quite cold now that they were up a bit more. She folded her arms across herself and warmed her sides with her hands. She felt maybe they should leave soon since it was so chilly...but the view was so beautiful it felt like a waste to leave now...

She suddenly felt something soft plop onto her back. Tohru blinked her eyes a bit obscured from the large fabric. Pulling it up she realized Kyo had dropped his jacket on her back. She felt his warmth still remaining in the fabric despite the chilly air.

"K-kyo! No you'll catch a cold!" She protested trying to hand it back.

Kyo easily dodged the jacket she offered him and simply avoided her gaze. "Take it. It'll be a problem if you get sick."

Tohru blinked at him but smiled gratefully. She put her arms inside the sleeves and realized that it was much too big for her. She felt so small inside of it...Kyo-kun really had long arms...

"Are you sure you're ok?" She checked once more glancing at him. Kyo nodded and kept his eyes on the view in front of them. Tohru smiled and cuddle herself inside the jacket a bit more sighing as the warmth remained with her. It held the small scent of Kyo-kun...she had noticed when they had slept in the same bed the earlier night. It wasn't two sweet or off...it was more a musky flower scent. Almost like a breeze of softness despite his cold hair exterior.

A few moments past. Tohru smiled feeling the warmth of the jacket and the view of the city.

"Kyo-kun...when did you find this place?"

"Mm.." He sat still for a moment. "I found it right when I got here actually. It's hard to find but...at that time I needed a place to clear my head."

"So you found this place?"

"Yeah."

"Is it your favorite place to chill?"

"Yea...it is."

"It's really nice...I'm glad you shared it with me. Really it's so beautiful up here..!"

"It is...in the daytime it's nice too..."

The two once again fell into a lapsed silence.

Tohru glanced at Kyo. She saw his side profile looking at the city. However, for some reason she felt the urge to want to say more. To find out more about him. She wanted to know why he got so angry when she spoke about his parents...she wanted to know if he had any siblings as well. But...

Something about Kyo-kun's posture made her feel she shouldn't ask. The words she wanted to say got stuck in her throat.

"This is a nice place for dates I guess." Kyo commented all of a sudden.

"Yeah...w-w-w-wwait date?!" Tohru gasped her face beginning to heat up.

"Not that we're on one!" He immediately said looking at her with eyes of surprise. "I just meant...you know...it's a nice spot."

"Oh. Y-Yea..." Tohru wavered feeling embarrassed that she had overreacted to his comment. She settled down once more and folded her arms together. Way to embarrass herself constantly in front of him! She hoped he didn't think she liked him or something...

"But...we should get going. I don't want Momiji to wake up and see that we left him." Kyo sighed and began to get up.

"Yea.." Tohru nodded. "But I guess he could guess where you are since he knows this is your favorite place right?" She got up as well and began to follow him when she stopped noticing he had paused at her words.

"Mmm? Kyo-kun?"

"Well..." He stopped and turned to look at her. She couldn't quite understand the expression on his face. His eyes were muted and hazel in the blue dim of the night. His face was expressionless but held a hint of underlying truth.

"Momiji doesn't know this place." He finally said.

"Really?" Tohru blinked, genuinely surprised. She followed and walked next to him. The two made their way down the stone paved steps. "Why? I'm sure he'd love it here!"

"Yea...I guess. I just never got around to showing him." Kyo said.

Slowly Tohru realized that she was the first person to have visited Kyo-kun's favorite spot. She felt oddly...proud. And felt a bit nervous and flustered at the idea of it. She smiled gratefully.

"Then does that mean I should keep this place a secret from other people?!"

"Yea...I guess.." He simply replied seeming distracted.

"And maybe Momiji would want to come with us next time?"

"Mmm he usually works during the day."

"Maybe we could come agai-? MMpph!"

Tohru was suddenly unable to speak as her mouth was muffled tightly by Kyo-kun's hand. She felt him pull her along with him into a small crack in the alley. The two were huddled into the path behind a large gutter and it was dimly dark in the small alley. It was so dark Tohru could barely see anything. Kyo held his hand covered over her mouth and held her close to him.

Tohru sat very still frozen to the spot, her heart drumming in her ears. Kyo-kun was so near that she could hear his fast breath just inches away from her ear. But she could also hear something else...

Steps...

She stayed very still realizing that small steps of sound below the alley were approaching and growing louder and louder. The two stood very still each feeling their breaths in unison. Kyo let go of his hold on her mouth and simply wrapped his arm around her neck protectively.

As scary as the situation was., Tohru couldn't help noticing how fast her heart was pounding against her chest. She felt for certain that Kyo-kun was much too close...and that he could probably hear her heart drumming in her ears. She could hear every breath he made and the warmth of his fingers wrapped tightly around her arm.

Silently the two listened as the step grew nearer and nearer until it was right next to them. However, the people continued down the alley and up the stone steps to the hill.

Tohru couldn't look to the side for fear of moving. The two were frozen for a couple more seconds before Kyo gently let go of her arm. He then grabbed her hand silently and pulled her along with him. They made their way down the alley and down to the left side of a smaller alley. Kyo kept his pace brisk and fast until they reached the main alley that led to their loft.

The two sighed out breaths of relief and Tohru allowed her hand to loosen but felt Kyo's grip on her still strong.

"Um...Kyo-kun?"

He blinked glancing at their hands. He immediately dropped her hand his face growing a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, I grabbed too tight."

"N-no it's ok." Tohru assured him massaging her clammy hands together. They made their way down the alley in a much slower speed then before. Her heart still felt very fast despite their steady walk. He had been so close!

"But...were the people earlier Akito's men?" Tohru asked quietly trying to shake away the thoughts. He was protecting them...no need to get carried away...

"No...actually I don't know. I just knew we shouldn't be seen by other people. Not worth the risk."

"I see." Tohru nodded. The two remained silent as they made their way to the loft. Finally as they reached the front door, Tohru pulled off Kyo's jacket and handed it to him.

"Kyo-kun...you're really good at protecting me. You know that?" She smiled at him.

He turned and took the jacket and looked at her in the face. Soft orange eyes met bright brown ones, and Kyo-kun took in her expression for a fraction of a second. Letting himself give her a small grin he said "It's cuz you need it."


	8. Chapter 8

For the next couple of days things were calm and slow. For once, Tohru didn't mind that. They had been through so much in such a short amount of time that she relished the feeling of easiness as they took each day by day. Much similar to Paris, they each did their own thing throughout the day and met for dinner, however Kyo and Momiji always made sure at least one of them were with Tohru at all times, and that they didn't go too far when they did shows or work.

They also arranged their sleeping arrangement so that they rotated using the bed. Since there was only one bed and they couldn't buy another mattress without rousing suspicion, they rotated between two people using the bed and one on the couch back and forth. (Usually Tohru almost always got the bed).

It was around noon when Tohru was alone with Kyo. Kyo quietly whittled a piece of wood into a small figurine with his knife, seeming lost in thought, while Tohru was humming preparing what they would eat for dinner. She turned and was about to pour the contents of the vegetables into the soup when she heard the clatter of the door opening.

"I...HATE...mosquitos!"

Tohru grinned recognizing the sound as Momiji. Momiji burst through the door and smacked himself all over his body before letting out a angry gust of air. "WHY ARE WE IN VENICE?" He looked like he had just finished one of his performances, sweating profusely with his blond messy hair in his eyes and large formal attire a bit wrinkled and disheveled. He glanced at Kyo who raised his eyes at Momiji but otherwise didn't seem too surprised by his appearance.

"Aren't you just overreacting?" Kyo simply asked turning his attention back onto his piece of wood.

"NO!" Momiji bellowed. "I hate bugs! Last night I couldn't fall asleep because I felt so icky all over! AGH! THERE'S ANOTHER ONE OVER THERE! Hurry Tohru kill it!"

Tohru blinked rapidly searching for the bug. "Eh? Eh?!"

"Momiji it gets so loud when you come in the house." Kyo sighed pausing his whittling to scrape the blade of his knife against the table edge to get excess dust off.

"But I can't help if it they keep biting me! And it smells here. And I rarely get to use the bed!" Momiji continued to complain setting down his things and airing himself cool with his hands as he did so. "And it's hot in here!"

"Ah...ah I'm sorry Momiji-kun I wonder what we should do to make it better for you?" Tohru stammered as she dropped the vegetables into the pot and swirled it with a wooden spoon before turning around and walking over to sit next to Momiji.

"He's just too used to the life of luxury." Kyo frowned continuing his work on the wood.

"Well Venice is full of pretty girls but they wont like me if I have mosquito bites all over me! No offense to Tohru." Momiji huffed angrily.

"Eh? Why no offense to me?" Tohru asked confused.

"Well you count Tohru, since Momiji has set his eyes on your from the start." Kyo answered calmly.

"Hey!" Momiji warned a blush starting to creep onto his features. He aimed a jab of warning to Kyo with his eyes.

"Well it's true. You count as one of the pretty girls Momiji wants to impress." Kyo continued matter of factly despite Momiji's protests. He finished scraping his blade and tossed it closed into his palm before setting down the small figurine he had made. It was a small cat, yet very detailed and morphed looking. It almost looked like a beast.

At this Momiji was up on his feet steaming and got up in a rush to attack Kyo who began to dodge his angry swipes.

"Eh?" Tohru's face brightened and she blushed. She actually felt a bit flattered. She had never really thought of herself as "pretty" compared to other girls.

"Hey! That was our se-! I mean! W-Well YOU think Tohru's pretty too right?!" Momiji huffed. He continued to scamper around the room swinging aims at Kyo who neatly dodged the attacks. When Momiji had failed to counter attack his revenge on Kyo he angrily let out a groan and slumped on the bed.

"KYOOO~why do you always embarrass me in front of Tohru?" Momiji whined.

"No one's embarrassed here but you." Kyo smirked. "Tohru you think Momiji's handsome don't you?"

"Oh...oh!?" Tohru blinked at the two of them and watched as Momiji froze to the spot and glanced at her with a solemn look on his face. His skin was still a bit red and steaming from his earlier angry outburst.

"U-um I mean both of you are very h-handsome.." She began to stutter, unsure of how to answer.

Momiji's face brightened a bit at her compliment. He seemed to begin to slowly calm down. "Really? You think so Tohru? Like...as a man right?"

Tohru smiled at him, glad that peacefulness was returning to his face. "Yes! Momiji-kun I'm sure lots of girls would love you!"

Kyo coughed at her comment, but Momiji ignored this and jumped into the air

Grabbing Tohru into his arms for a hug. Tohru yelped as she felt him pull her towards him and enveloped her in his arms. As soon as they made contact, there was a large POOF! And the room was engulfed into a large amount of pink smoke.

Tohru's eyes widened as she glanced at her shoulder feeling the weight of a large yellow rabbit clinging on where Momiji had been earlier.

"M-M-M-M-m!" Tohru gasped stuttering. She had almost forgotten about the curse!

"YOU STUPID RABBIT!" Kyo yelled annoyed. He got up and picked Momiji up and dropped Momiji onto the bed. "Stop doing that! What if you stay as a rabbit?!"

"But I like hugging Tohru! It's not so bad to turn into an animal cuz of it!" Momiji whined in his small feather like rabbit voice. Tohru felt shivers watching the words come out of the rabbits mouth but otherwise tried to compose her face to act as if it was completely normal.

"Err...I like your hugs too Momiji-kun." She tried to say without stammering.

"Don't encourage him." Kyo sighed running one of his long hands down his face.

"TOHRU THE SOUP!" Momiji hopped.

"Ehh?!"

Tohru turned just in time to recognize the soup was about to boil over. She ran to the stove in a flurry and hurried to lower the heat, before blowing cool air onto the soup.

"Guess we have to eat dinner without you." She could hear Kyo comment as she worked to finish off the soup.

"No fair! I like soup!"

"Can rabbits eat salt?"

"Errr."

Tohru smiled listening to the two bicker but ladled out two large bowls before ladling a tiny portion into a dish for the rabbit Momiji.

...

A couple of days later Tohru and Momiji were following Kyo down an alley towards the great city. Kyo had found someone to look for distinguishable people who worked under Akito. The person had contacted them letting them know to meet them at café nearby.

As they approached the small café, Tohru noticed it was very empty and dimly lit. The three entered the building and was welcomed by the host to a table in the back lined with red and glass silverware. Waiting sitting at the end of the table was a tall slender man wearing a suit and small glasses. He had a hazel brown mixed with auburn hair and a pale face with hollow cheekbones.

"Kyo." He nodded and smiled at the three. His voice range with confidence and authority. His eyes widened glancing from Momiji's face to Tohru's, lingering a moment longer on Tohru's before commenting. "I've met Momiji...but who is this?"

"This is Tohru." Kyo gestured to Tohru with his hand nonchalantly. "We sort of picked her up."

"Oh really?" The man grinned mischievously. "A stranger? And a girl at that?"

"He saved me from getting attacked." Tohru pitched in a small voice. The man glanced at her and she fell silent feeling a bit embarrassed under his strong piercing gaze. His eyes seemed to match his hair in the same tone of reddish hazel auburn and they seemed to burn as they held a bit of a mysterious aura of want and playful mischievousness.

"I see. Well sit down. We have lots to talk about." He clapped his hands and gestured for them to join him at the table. As the three settled down the man took a napkin on top of the table and swiftly set It gently onto Tohru's lap. Tohru blushed a bit at his forwardness and nodded to him in thank you. His hands lingered on her skirt for a moment before he tipped his face at her and gave her a quick smile.

Kyo coughed as he watched the interaction through cold eyes and settled his arms on the table. "So it's been a while. Have you got more stuff?"

"Ahhh now now Kyo, no need to hurry." The man leaned back against the chair in ease. "Where's my reward first of all?" The man clicked his tongue and gestured with his thumb and forefinger for money.

"Here." Kyo brought out a thick stack of money and handed it across the table. The man immediately snatched it off the table and tucked it neatly inside his suit. Coughing and bringing himself together he smiled genuinely warmer at Kyo.

"Now then. What were we on? Oh yes! There are exactly 5 of his men in this city at this exact moment. As for Akito-sama himself, he is actually gone. He has gone back to Japan I believe."

"Japan?" Kyo repeated.

"Yes...I was unsure as to why, but it seems he only left Shigure and a couple of his men behind. His guest house in unoccupied. Shigure is...in a hotel or apartment I believe."

"I see..." Kyo sighed. "Why is he moving?"

"Not sure...but I do know that the men that Akito have placed here aren't very skilled. Well...not skilled enough to fight you guys. It's more of a superficial act of courtesy that he's placing so that it looks like he's after you two. But they're fairly weak."

"Then why..." Kyo murmured.

Tohru's eyes widened. "Akito-san has left?"

"Yes.." The man looked at Tohru and seemed to take a keen interest whenever she seemed to speak. His eyes stayed concentrated on hers as he spoke directly to her.

"It seem you guys are safe in Venice for now.."

"I see.." Kyo nodded glancing at the two of them with eye brows raised.

Momiji piped up. "Can we order some food?"

"Oh goodness! Where are my manners?!" The man laughed and clapped his hands to the waiters outside. Soon they were ordering dishes of pasta and bread for dinner. As they ate their food Tohru wondered why the man continued to give her extra portions from his plates to hers.

"Tohru-kun you're extremely tiny. Ah it's alright to call you that right? We're probably not that far in age." He commented as he moved a small piece of chicken onto her plate.

"Y-yes of course!" Tohru nodded vigorously. "Ah but I don't know your name sir?"

"Oh? You don't?! My name is Hiyomi Matsuda. I am an old friend of Kyo's, well more of...an acquaintance that has business terms. But we do get along fairly well. And I'm affiliated with the Sohma family since they have had me as their secretary ever since I graduated from university."

"I see!" Tohru nodded.

The man grinned and set his knife down to lean his elbow on the table. "But Tohru-kun...isn't it difficult to be living with two men?! Don't you feel...a bit uncomfortable?"

"Eh?" Tohru blinked and glanced at Kyo and Momiji, who glanced at one another slightly but pretended not to notice his comment and continued to eat their pasta at rapid speeds.

"Well...they're both very nice to me." Tohru said carefully. "Especially Kyo, and Momiji is a very good friend.."

"Is Kyo not a friend then?" Hiyomi-kun's eyebrows catching onto every word.

"N-no he is a friend as well! I just feel more comfortable around Momiji-kun..." She glanced at Momiji who gave her a quick smile in gratitude.

"Ahhh I see." Hiyomi-kun's face relaxed into a smile and he glanced at Kyo who seemed to take no notice of their conversation.

"Tohru-kun...have you ever dated?"

Momiji spat out a glass of water and began to have a large fit of coughs.

"Hey! Tohru's too pure for you Hiyomi!" He scowled.

"No no that's not what I meant!" Hiyomi laughed lightly holding his hands in the air.

"I just mean...has she ever been in love?"

"Love?" Tohru blinked repeating the word. "W-well I'm not exactly too sure..."

"As in...how does your heart react when a certain man...let's take me for instance. Gets closer to you like this?" He leaned in closer to her draping an arm around her shoulders and bringing her closer to his side. He bent his neck and brought his mouth close to her ear and said softly so that only the two of them could hear. "Is your heart beating fast Tohru-kun?"

Tohru's hands tightened in her lap and she felt she couldn't breathe. No man had ever been so outgoing about their actions with her. Why was he doing this?

"Hey."

The two turned at his voice. Kyo played with a napkin in his fingertips and wasn't looking at either of them, seeming bored with the dinner. However, his voice held a chill undertone as the curves of his mouth moved along his lips.

"You know you already have a lot of girls on your plate Hiyomi...Tohru is one that doesn't belong in it." His words turned cold at the end. It almost sounded like a threat.

"Ah I do I do." Hiyomi grinned in reply and drew back slightly but nudged Tohru's cheek with his fingers. "But she's so adorable. I don't know how you two can resist it."

"Heyyy this is going a bit far Hiyomi." Momiji scowled getting up a bit and waving his hands at him. "Tohru's gunna feel uncomfortable around you!"

"Well Momiji it's not like I'm confessing my love in her or anything!" He put up his hands laughing. "I'm just wondering how Tohru-kun feels about all of this. And it's not like...you're planning on initiating anything?"

Momiji blushed at his words and seemed to be at a loss for words.

"And plus...she should know her options. Tohru-kun is beautiful, honest, and innocent. She's exactly my style."

Tohru felt her stomach tighten at his words. She didn't feel flattered. She felt...oddly scared. Scared of his expressions and strong words towards her.

"But Tohru, what do you think of a handsome guy like me?" Hiyomi grinned and looked at her in the eyes. "I'm rich...and I'm smart. And I treat ladies well. What's not to like?" He grinned and raised a hand to smooth his auburn hair out of his eyes. Bringing her closer to him so that he could speak into her ear he whispered. "And just look at how far you're in their hands already..."

Tohru felt a chill fall as he said the last words into her ear. It didn't feel like he was complimenting her. Instead...it felt like a threat. A secret that he knew that was meant to trickle in her mind...

"Tohru are you thirsty?" Kyo asked all of a sudden.

Tohru glanced at Kyo and saw him stand up offering for her to follow him, ignoring Hiyomi's strong gazes on her face.

"U-Um...yes actually." She wasn't but she longed to get out of Hiyomi's grasp. He frowned at the intrusion but otherwise let her go and Tohru got up from the table to hurriedly follow Kyo out of the room.

"Buy me gelato!" She heard Momiji call after them.

As soon as the two had stepped out of the café Kyo led her down the street and towards the main market. He walked fast and at a rapid pace. Tohru hurriedly followed after him feeling a bit chilled by the conversation but happy to be following him. She pressed a hand to her heart and felt it was moving fast, but she felt it was moving fast for very different reasons. It was a totally different feeling from when she had been close to...

She glanced at Kyo who didn't look at her the whole time they walked. His broad back faced her as he walked at a rapid speed. He didn't speak or glance behind him.

Soon Tohru settled down her thoughts long enough to notice the mood. Running to keep pace with him she walked next to him and glanced at his face. His face was expressionless, but it wasn't kind either. He didn't look at her as she gazed into his face. It looked stony and blank. Void of other implications.

"Kyo-kun... are you ok?" She whispered.

"Yea." He answered cold and sharp. Tohru blinked a bit taken back. He had answered cut and short and with the same knife tone he had used when they had first met. Rather than feeling relieved at his answer...she felt a bit more nervous.

"A-Are you sure? It seems...you're not yourself.."

He suddenly stopped and Tohru almost had to grind her feet in to the ground so that she wouldn't lurch ahead of him.

He swiftly turned to her and his cold eyes met hers. Dark, and burning like the night he had saved her.

"What is "not myself?"" He asked shortly.

"Um.." Tohru blinked searching for words. His eyes watched hers intently still unwavering and sharp. It was as if he was waiting for her to give an answer she herself didn't know...

"You seem...a bit...angry." She finished softly.

His eyes softened for a fraction of a second. So quick that Tohru almost thought she had imagined it. Then he was back to keeping his face smooth and impassive.

"I'm not." He said curtly.

"You...seemed to be."

"If I say I'm not I'm not." He cut her across in a slightly louder tone. Tohru felt her words swallow in her throat. She almost felt tears come into her eyes. Startled by her reactions Tohru rubbed her eyes a bit and noticed that Kyo had already silently turned and began to walk ahead of her once again. She worked to remove the tears now blurring her vision. Was she crying?! She felt her heart heavy with disappointment...not in him...but herself. What had she done wrong? Was he mad...at her? Why was he so angry with her?

After a moment Kyo turned to glance behind him when he noticed that the sound of the steps behind him were growing slower in rhythm. Looking down the road he saw Tohru frantically trying to follow him but rubbing her eyes as she did so. As he watched Tohru continuously rubbed her eyes, almost knocking into items along the sides of the road as she did so. His eyes widened as he made his way towards her and yanked her arm away from her face. Tohru blinked rapidly and gazed at him in shock as his eyes scrutinized her face.

"Are you...crying?!" Kyo's voice tightening as he asked.

"Huh?" Tohru blinked and tried to pull her arm away so that she could wipe the rest of the tears away from her eyes. "O-oh no I'm...I'm ...don't worry."

Kyo took in her expression for a long moment. He seemed even more angry then before. His grip was strong and hard on her arm as he gazed over her face taking in her expression. Tohru was trying to smile, but her face was slightly red and eyes wet from the tears she hadn't wiped. She looked...shaken. And scared...of him...

He slowly let go of her arm in horror.

"Tohru..." His throat felt tight and cold as he worked to say something nice, but found he could only swallow.

"No..it's fine. Kyo-kun I'm so sorry!" Tohru apologized quickly noticing his change in attitude. She began rubbing the rest of her tears away with her hands. "It's not you, I was just...I think I'm overreacting! I just thought you might have been angry with me...ah! But I should have believed you when you said you weren't angry! But still you seemed to still be-"

Kyo was quiet for a long moment before he finally said "I'm not mad...Tohru really." His voice immediately softened to a much quieter tone. "It has...nothing to do with you..."

Tohru paused her hands wiping her face and she looked at him. He wasn't looking at her but his face indicated remorse. He looked...guilty...

"R-really?" She asked feeling the weight in her stomach lighten a considerable bit.

"Yea...I.." He paused and looked at her in the eyes. "Hiyomi's a good guy. He helps me a lot Tohru. I just...don't like the way he treats people sometimes." His words faltered as he struggled to express the situation.

"Yes.." Tohru nodded. "But he was very nice to us today! And to me..." She stuttered.

"Yea. Especially you..." He turned away from her seeming to not want to say anything more about the subject. "Let's get gelato."

"Y-yes! Tohru perked up and smiled at him feeling a bit relieved. His angry demeanor had slid off at their little spat and he now walked at a slower pace. Tohru glanced at Kyo's face and felt a bit better seeing that he no longer seemed cold at impassive, but slightly less weary. Her smile grew brighter as he led them all the way to the gelato shop.

...

"Ahh why take so long Tohru-kun? I was beginning to get so bored with only Momiji-kun for company!" Hiyomi whined as the two returned with small containers of frozen gelato.

"Sorry." Tohru smiled at him. For some reason she felt a lot less nervous seeing Hiyomi after talking with Kyo. The two sat back down at the table and handed out the small containers. Momiji rolled his eyes at Hiyomi but excitedly opened the containers to see what flavors they had gotten.

"Ohhh mango and pistachio. Yum yum~ 3" Momiji grinned and thanked Tohru for the spoon and dug in.

"Kyo how selfish of you keeping Tohru-kun for yourself." Hiyomi pouted accepting the spoon from Tohru and scooting closer to her.

"I wasn't. She wanted gelato." Kyo said simply and took a spoon for himself and dug it into the pistachio gelato. After scooping a large spoonful he immediately handed it to Tohru before she could protest and took the spoon in her hand for himself.

Hiyomi paused slightly at Kyo's reply. His eyes wandered from Kyo to Tohru for a moment before he smiled brightly. "Tohru-kun...I have something I wish to tell you real quick. Want to meet me outside?"

"Eh?" Tohru blinked the pistachio gelato still in her mouth. She quickly swallowed and tried to avoid the burning gaze Momiji gave them as the two stepped outside.

"What do you think he's going to say to Tohru?" Momiji fumed and asked Kyo as soon as the two had left.

"Dunno." Kyo said scooping another scoop of pistachio into his mouth. He bit it and felt the cold gelato burn his throat.

...

"Tohru-kun. You really are cute."

"Th-thank you." Tohru folded her hands together and leaned back a bit against the building. He gestured for her to follow him to a more quiet area in the alley. As the two settled to the side she turned and looked at him. Hiyomi was looking at her with an expression with mixed confusion and frustration.

"I don't understand...you're so..." He put a finger to his lips. "Naïve..."

Tohru blinked at his words. "Mm?"

He grinned and leaned in towards her. Tohru stepped backed a bit and felt her back press against the wall. His expression had changed from false cheeriness to a dark sinister smile. She felt immediately wary by the fact that he looked like a completely different person. Not in looks, but the way he smiled seemed not as kindly as before. It seemed as if he had slid of a mask of politeness.

"Tohru-kun...you have met Akito-sama I presume?" He asked leaning towards her.

"Y-yes." Tohru nodded, trying to not let herself feel fear or let her eyes waver from his. She bit her lip and tried to compose her voice to not waver.

"Then you will know about the curse." He grinned pleased with her answer. "Let me tell you something valuable Tohru-kun. I felt the need to tell you as soon as I met you." He leaned in closer to her closing in their distance and brought his mouth to her ear. Tohru felt herself tense as his words tickled her ears.

"Kyo is a monster."

Tohru's eyes widened and she stared at him as he drew away.

He looked at her his eyes warning and grave. "I see the way you look at him. As if you can put all of your trust into one being. Someone who you met for merely a few weeks!"

He laughed and his voice cracked as he coughed. Recovering he wiped his mouth with his hankerchief. "So it's not good to get close to him Tohru. This is my word of advice for you Tohru-kun. I care about you, you see."

Tohru didn't know whether to thank him, yell at him, or feel angry.

"What...do you mean?" She whispered.

He simply smiled. "Ahh it's because you've never seen him at his worst that you think that he's alright now. But wait...you will soon see why the thing the Sohma's struggle with is indeed called a ..."curse"."

Suddenly he pulled her into a tight hug that almost let her forget how to breathe. He held her so that their hearts aligned and she could feed his hard chest press against hers.

"Hiyomi-kun?!" She gasped.

"The Sohmas' will never know this feeling." He breathed. His hands trailed along her back and he made his voice clear in her ears. "The feeling of holding the person they love in their arms...or keeping their hearts aligned like this." He straightened his position so that she could feel his chest a bit more thoroughly. "Feeling their hair...and the warmth..." He brought his hands to her brown hair and weaved it through trailing it to her waist. "Don't you wish for Kyo and Momiji to know that feeling?"

"I...I don't..know." Tohru gasped trying to push him away. He laughed at her efforts and slowly let her go straightening her hair with his fingers as he did so.

He continued to laugh as he straightened his jacket. "You're an interesting girl, I'll give you that Tohru-kun." He smiled at her and held his hand out to her.

"Until next time. I want you to remember what I said Tohru-kun...ah and it's especially important to the people you are now close to isn't it?"

Tohru glanced at his hand, then at his face, and felt a dilemma of whether or not to shake it.

His eyes widened in surprise but he grinned at her. "Look at you!" He laughed and grasped her hand and shook it once.

"No need to be so distrusting." He winked, and turned to walk away. However suddenly Tohru felt the inclination to ask a question that had been bothering her for a long time.

"Hiyomi-kun...is it possible...to break the Sohma curse?"

He paused. Hiyomi didn't turn around to face her but stood quiet still. Tohru held her breath wondering if she had asked too much. However, he suddenly turned to look at her with his usual bright smile.

"Careful Tohru-kun...getting yourself too involved with the Sohmas isn't good...Especially for a girl like you." He winked.

With that he turned around and walked away disappearing around the alley. Tohru brought her arms around her and stood quiet still unable to move. She felt shocked and cold. What did he mean... did that mean there was a way to break the curse? If the curse was much worse then just simply turning into an animal...what was it? Did it have to do with something by the fact that Kyo-kun... was a monster? She felt her throat tighten and almost forgot to breathe again. Hiyomi kun...what did he mean that Kyo-kun was a monster?

Not wanting to make Kyo and Momiji wait, she slowly turned and made her way back down the alley and inside the café.

Making her way inside Momiji got up from the table as soon as she made her way to the table.

"What did that jerk want?!" He almost shouted.

"H-he...just wanted to say goodbye." Tohru stammered. For some reason she felt she couldn't talk about what had just happened to Momiji and definitely not Kyo.

Kyo glanced up at her and took in her expression for a moment.

"Did he do anything to you?" He finally asked scrutinizing her face.

"N-no..he...wanted to say goodbye." Tohru stammered and felt herself avoid his gaze. It was even harder to look at him after what Hiyoshi-kun had said. Kyo stared at her for a long moment but deciding to let it go rose up from the table.

"Come on...we've been here long enough."

"Yea...bring the gelato cups!" Momiji grinned.

...

That night Tohru decided to visit Kyo's favorite spot on top of Venice's highest hill. Kyo had told Tohru and Momiji that they could now freely wander a bit but to stay in a five mile radius of their apartment and to refrain from going out for too long.

Tohru had wondered about where to go with her newfound freedom but found herself perched on top of the soft grass and watching the beautiful city lights sparkle in the the distance. She breathed in the cool night air and pressed her knees against her chest. She felt a bit troubled. Mostly about what Hiyomi had told her...

She felt almost certain that he had meant there was the strong possibility of there being a way to break curse. She also felt that it meant that though it may exist...breaking it was a lot harder to achieve then anything she may even imagine.

But what bothered her the most...was what he had said about Kyo. About Kyo-kun...being a monster.

What did that exactly mean..?

"Yo."

Tohru turned around startled at the voice. Kyo was watching her with his eyes a bit soft and omnimous in the dark night background.

"Kyo-kun..." She breathed feeling her heart almost stop in surprise. She slowly calmed herself down and patted at the spot next to her.

"Did you want to get some fresh air?"

"I did." He answered sitting next to her and feeling the cool wind.

He glanced at her.

"You seemed really...out of it after meeting Hiyomi. Did he say anything to you?"

"Eh? Ah...that." Tohru bit her lip. "It was nothing really. He just showered me with compliments...

"Ah I see. But don't let him fool you." Kyo sighed crossing his legs. "He does that to every girl he meets. I'd be surprised if he ever gets married at this rate."

"Really?" Tohru blinked. She hadn't been too concerned with his compliments however...

After a long moment of silence Tohru quietly asked Kyo. "Kyo-kun...you know the Sohmas really hate their curse? Why...is that?"

Kyo blinked and glanced at her. He neither seemed surprised nor shocked at her question. He felt his face smooth as he answered. "Why do you want to know...?"

"It's just cuz...you always seemed to talk about it as if it were something... really bad."

He looked away towards the city and seemed to contemplate it.

"It is. For the most part. Bearable. But...once you're in love. That's when it becomes something you hate."

"In...love?"

"For example...Hatori...he's our family doctor. Year of the dragon. He could never hug his ex-wife lest he turns into a dragon and nearly kills her. You lose some of your able mind when you turn into your animal. You can never bear children..."

He turned to look at her. "You see why it's a curse?"

"Yes..." Tohru bit her lip. "Then...Kyo if I hugged you...would you turn into the cat?"

Kyo froze seeming to search her eyes for something she couldn't name. Was it fear?

He clenched his fists in the grass and steadied his breath.

"No...i would...turn into something much different."

"Different?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But-"

"I said I don't!"

He rose up furious and Tohru blinked her hands outstretched and clenching thin air.

"Why...are you so afraid? Is it something so terrible?" She whispered.

He looked at her his eyes burning, red and alive.

"Yes. So terrible I would never forgive you if you hugged me..."

With that Kyo turned and walked away leaving her on top of the hill. Tohru sat there for a long moment feeling even more confused and frightened than before. What did he mean...What was so terrible? Was he a beast? A monster? Did that mean Kyo-kun never knew what love was?


	9. Chapter 9

Tohru and Kyo kun were in a bit of a rocky term. Whenever they caught one another looking at one another, they would avoid each other's gazes and simply continue on with their daily tasks. Momiji seemed to take no notice of the tension between the two and continued to happily make jokes with both Tohru and Kyo. However as soon as the day of meeting Hiyomi once more came around Tohru immediately felt nervous and off course. She wasn't exactly sure whether it was because she was meeting Hiyomi or because she was waiting to figure out what he had implied to her. However she didn't wish to meet him a third time if she could help it.

The night before the meeting, Momiji and Tohru were alone sitting quietly at the table cutting carrots for their pot pie dinner. Momiji cut a piece and would shout about how cute it was and cut a larger piece only to feel disappointed and to repeat the process. Everything always seemed like an adventure whenever Momiji cooked. Tohru began to laugh forgetting her worries for a bit while the two began to throw vegetables at one another.

When things settled down and things were a bit more quiet it occurred to Tohru that maybe she could ask Momiji about the Kyo thing...she was very curious about what Hiyomi had meant. However, she hadn't the courage to ask Kyo again, nor did she want to go and find Hiyomi about it.

"Umm Momiji-kun." Tohru started trying to sound as casual as possible. Momiji stopped slicing his carrot to smile at her. "Hmm?"

"I was wondering...just about the Sohmas' in general."

"Oh really? What about?" Momiji asked curiously.

Tohru kept her eyes averted from his face and cut up her side of onions trying to seem focused on her task. "Well...I heard...something. From Hiyomi-kun..."

"Ew. Hiyomi?!" Momiji immediately scowled. "What did he say to you?!"

"Well...he mentioned about the curse actually. The Sohma curse."

"Ahhh..." Momiji sighed. "Don't worry about anything he says. He just thinks he knows everything just because he's been working under Akito for so long."

"But..he said something about Kyo-kun." Tohru frowned.

"Really? What about Kyo?"

"That...he.." Tohru bit her lip. It sounded crude to call Kyo-kun a "monster" so openly. She didn't even know what he had meant by it.

"It's what I think Kyo-kun turns into because of the curse." She said slowly.

Momiji stared at her and slowly took in her words. He remained silent for a minute. Tohru knew just by looking at his expression that he had not expected for her to find out about it. Nor did he look like the topic was something to casually talk about.

"Did he tell you what it was?" He finally asked quietly.

"N-no...he just told me...it was like a...monster." Tohru answered wondering whether or not she was going a bit too far.

"A monster..." Momiji murmured seriously. He set his knife down and sighed. "I guess that's one way to put it..."

"He is?" Tohru gasped.

"Not him himself..." Momiji reassured. "You'd have to see it to understand. But it's something Kyo has struggled with for years. Ever since he was born, Kyo was outcast from the whole Sohma family. Everyone knew but no one talked about it since Kyo himself didn't know. His own parents abandoned him, and he was left alone inside the Sohma estate.."

Momiji looked at Tohru his expression pained. "He changed. He was isolated before, but once he found out what he looked like after changing...he wasn't the same really.."

"What does he change into?" Tohru asked.

"I've only seen it once. It's not something you'd love to see."

"Then...he was outcast because of it?"

"That and...people blame him. They say he destroyed his mom when he was born in his cursed form."

"Oh my goodness.." Tohru whispered. She dropped her knife and clenched her hands together. They were trembling and she felt like her feet weren't even touching the ground.

"Does he think he did?"

"I know he thinks he did."

Tohru opened her mouth then closed it her eyes wide. "Oh no...Kyo-kun..."

"Yea. And that's why he distances himself from everyone. Especially girls. He doesn't want to hurt them..."

Tohru felt tears form in her eyes. Her heart clenched as if someone was tightening it in her body. How horrible, how painful it must have been...

"Does anyone else in the Sohma family have this?" She asked.

"No...not that I know of. But we all bear some part of the curse. Not only do we transform into our zodiac animal, if we're found out...we have to erase the memories of the ones we love. That's how Hatori lost his fiancé. That's how Yuki lost all of his friends. It's...not a good curse Tohru."

"Momiji..." Tohru reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her and smiled weakly at her warm touch.

"Yes?"

"Is there a way to...break the curse?"

"..." Momiji stopped for a moment and brought his hand up to caress hers. He frowned. "If there is...no one knows."

"I see." Tohru bit her lip.

Suddenly there was a BANG and the door opened loudly. Both Tohru and Momiji jumped and looked up to see Kyo wet and shaking his bright orange hair out of his eyes. He began to loosen his tie when he noticed Tohru's hand in Momiji's. He paused in the middle of the room.

Tohru immediately began to blush and yanked her hand free from Momiji's. Momiji left his hand hanging for a moment longer in the air as if feeling a bit of regret at the lingering feeling then dropped his hand onto the table.

"Yo." He grinned at Kyo.

"Did I interrupt." Kyo asked quietly.

"N-No Kyo-kun it wasn't like that!" Tohru waved her hands in the air feeling even more embarrassed.

"It doesn't matter." He said simply and dropped his stuff before making his way to the bathroom and slamming the door shut.

Tohru fumed a bit but she settled into her chair and turned around trying not to pay attention to how embarrassed she felt. She picked up her onion and began to slice away furiously at fast strokes. Momiji looked at her quietly noticing her embarrassment and observed her expression for a moment before quietly returning back to his work.

...

After dinner that night Tohru came to the resolution she wanted to make up with Kyo and apologize to him. She couldn't stand feeling awkward and the silence she held with him during dinner. She waited until Momiji was showering until she finally walked over to stand next to Kyo. He was sitting on the couch at the corner of the room quietly reading a book. After a moment, noticing her presence he looked up at her.

"Kyo-kun..." Tohru began.

"What?" He sighed and got up closing his book. "If it's about earlier I don't want to hear it."

"N-no." She stopped him from getting up and he looked up at her surprised.

"I feel bad that I keep probing into your private life. You have no reason to tell me anything about the Sohmas' or your family...I just got greedy and wanted to know more about you. So...I'm sorry." She folded her hands together and bit her lip.

Kyo stared at her for a long moment seeming lost in thought.

He swallowed. "Why are you apologizing. You did nothing wrong." He finally said.

"But...I made you angry." Tohru faltered.

"Tohru, there's a difference between being angry at someone, and being angry at what they said. You just happen to probe everything that makes me angry about myself."

"So...that's why I'm sorry. I don't wish to cause you harm." She insisted.

"It's in your nature and character." He said simply. Settling back onto the couch he leaned his back fully against it.

"And I know you didn't mean to.." He finished quietly when he noticed Tohru's expression looked even more guilty than before.

Tohru frowned and sat next to him. "But...if there's a way that I can not make you angry..?"

Kyo's mouth curved a bit upward as he fought a smile. "Not really."

"Really?! But-"

"Tohru, I was angry at myself. There's a lot about me you don't know. I did mean it when I said I wouldn't forgive you for hugging me. I would cause you pain greater than anything I've given to anyone not related to me. It would...hurt both you and me. Something like that...I wouldn't be able to really help myself with."

"But...why?"

"There you go with the curious questions again." Kyo sighed and raised an arm to ruffle her hair. Tohru complained slightly but stopped when she noticed a small smile had formed on his face. It was gentle and forebearing.

"I hold off on telling you certain things because I know it would worry you."

Tohru blinked. She wanted to ask again "why", but held her tongue back as he continued to ruffle her hair gently.

"Kyo-kun..."

"That's why don't ask me anymore about my curse. It's not because I don't trust you. It's because I don't want to hurt you." He said quietly.

Tohru blinked at him. At his words she felt a flow of immense relief. Relief that he didn't hate her...relief that he was smiling despite the pain he went through...

"So...if I ever get curious about something again.."

He paused and turned a bit sideways so that he was no longer directly looking at her. "You don't have to hold yourself back Tohru. Do whatever you want."

Tohru smiled gently. "Kyo kun you are a really good person."

Kyo blinked at her words and turned to look at her. She was smiling at him brightly her eyes alive and warm. He smiled back at her gently.

"I do feel bad sometimes...you have to deal with this shi-" He caught himself and continued. "...Crap. Things girls shouldn't really see." He sighed. "Your at fault for insisting on paying me back for saving you."

"Ahh but despite all that I'm really glad I got to know you and Momiji!" Tohru smiled happily. "Just disregard me as a girl and think of me as your friend!"

"Disregard your femaleness?" Kyo murmured rolling his eyes at her dubiousness.

"Y-yes. I mean I could be a bit more...tomboyish. Like wear pants more and...lower my voice a bit? Wouldn't learning to fight also be helpful?"

At that she tried to attempt a masculine expression and made a few swipes with her fists. Taking one look at her expression, Kyo burst out laughing holding onto his sides and leaning against the couch.

"W-was it that bad?" Tohru blinked her face coming back to normal. Her face felt hot. She always felt so fuzzy headed whenever she caught Kyo laughing. It made her even more nervous at the fact that he was laughing at what she did.

He shook his head settling his laughter down. "Tohru...you just stay as a girl. I don't think being a guy suits you."

"But I want to make things easier for you and Momiji.."

"No trust me, you staying as a girl will do all of us a favor." He laughed and patted her head with his free hand once more. "You're actually very cute Tohru."

At this Tohru blushed brightly. Kyo-kun had never said such words to her! Sure Momiji said it all the time, and Hiyomi-kun had called her cute multiple times, but for the first time her heart began to beat frantically at his words. The way he said it smiling slightly seemed extremely different from the way other men said it.

Kyo let go of his hold on her and began to get up. "I'll go shower next. Sleep early." With that he walked away and Tohru felt her hands in her lap still a bit pink from his words earlier.

She felt glad that Kyo was freely talking to her once more. She was also glad their misunderstandings were a bit more solved. However, the fact that he gave up so much just to keep her and Momiji safe had her wondering just how strong of a person he was. If he gave so much to them...just how much was left for himself?

...

The next day was the day that they would meet Hiyomi for the last time. It was early in the morning and Kyo told Momiji and Tohru that the information they would get today would allow him to decide where they would stay for a while. Tohru felt a bit nervous that she was seeing Hiyomi again. Hiyomi-kun had said so many things that had kept her mind occupied since last time that she was nervous he would make her even more confused.

This time they were to meet inside a pasta restaurant and the three reached the restaurant a bit early. Once inside the three waited not really talking but simply taking sips of their water. Finally Hiyomi appeared minutes later at the door. He was wearing what seemed to by a lilac colored dress shirt with dark dress pants and a crisp black blazer. He glanced at the three of them giving them a quirky smile. However, this wasn't what caught Tohru off guard. She blinked taking in the disformed characteristics on his face. Hiyomi had a bunch of large bruises on his neck and face that were swelling and turning purple with red rings around them. One large gash on his cheek was bandaged to minimize the largeness of the size of it and covering a trail of red that ran down his neck.

"Hiyomi-kun?!" Tohru gasped getting up from the table frantically. "What happened?!"

"Now now nothing too big." Hiyomi chuckled waving his hands at them and settling Tohru back down to her seat. Kyo and Momiji simply stared wide eyed at Hiyomi who sat across from them and folded his hands across his lap.

"Now, sorry I'm a bit late."

"The hell is wrong with your face?" Kyo cut in.

"Nothing. It's simply an accident that occurred." Hiyomi said annoyed waving Kyo's comment away. "We're not here to talk about my appearance. Although I do look good no matter what of course."

"Well, we're planning on staying if Akito isn't here." Momiji piped up getting right to the point. He seemed a bit peeved just by Hiyomi's presence. "We have a stable job and Tohru's just got used to living in Venice."

"I think that's a good idea..." Hiyomi said slowly. "Oh and by the way may I invite some of my friends inside?"

"Sure..." Momiji faltered and glanced up two large men in a dark suits, both wearing sunglasses to cover their eyes, walked inside the room. The two stood at the doorway waiting to proceed. One was bald while the other had brown hair and bulky arms.

"Who are they?" Kyo asked sharply immediately sensing some danger.

"Now nothing to fear, they are simply my comrades that I hired to look out for people in Akito's scheme..."

"And we can trust them...?" Momiji eyed the two large men with his eyes skeptically.

"Yes yes yes. Now then we can get on with business. For the plans, I have found that Akito-sama is permanently residing in Japan, and Shigure has left as well leaving only three guards behind. So it is safe to say you three will be safe if you remain here."

"But why is he only leaving three guards when he suspects we're here?" Kyo asked.

"Well I believe he is slowly trying new tactics before he looks further."

"And what about Tohru?" Momiji piped up once more.

Hiyomi glanced at Tohru who glanced around the room nervously at the strange atmosphere. She looked at the two men who had entered and was confused as to why they didn't introduce themselves or take their sunglasses off. They continued to stand behind Hiyomi-kun as if they were...guarding him?

"Tohru will be safe. However, I do have a suggestion. We thought of hiding Tohru in Japan so that you and Momiji-kun can live in Venice in peace while Tohru can go back to her homeland. It would be immensely hard for all three of you to live in Japan together that's why.."

"You want Tohru to leave by herself?" Kyo asked sharply.

"Well yes.." Hiyomi-kun trailed off eyeing the men behind him.

"Of course she would be extremely safe and in good hands."

"Hiyomi...how do you know all of this?" Kyo drew back in his seat. His eyes once warm and orange narrowed in a cold stillness. "This is way more information then we needed.."

"What do you mean?" Hiyomi's eyes narrowed as well and he leaned forward on the table placing his hands on the top. He frowned seeming genuinely offended by Kyo's suspicion. "I work under Akito-sama's instructions Kyo. Of course I know a ton of information. He hands me information as he pleases and I hand it to you in fairness. I'm working to help you three. We're old friends."

"Acquaintances." Kyo said calmly.

Suddenly Kyo had his gun out of his jacket pocket and had it out faced towards Hiyomi. He pointed the trigger at Hiyomi's face his expression cold and hard. Hiyomi's eyes widened in alarm and Tohru and Momiji looked at Kyo their eyes wide.

"K-Kyo-kun what are you doing?" Tohru gasped.

"Now Kyo...I don't understand. Can you not trust me?" Hiyomi breathed holding his hands high in the air. "Let's be civil here."

"Civil when both men behind you carry M1911s?" Kyo answered just as calmly clicking his thumb and forefinger on the trigger. The two men behind Hiyomi immediately stepped forward bringing out their guns as well and raised their rifles at the three of them in unison. All conversation seemed to halt in dead silence.

The room froze in anticipated chilled stillness. Tohru could feel her heart beating so fast she could hardly breathe. She eyed the men around the room horrified and Momiji grabbed Tohru's arm and shoved her behind him and Kyo. He swallowed staring at the three men opposite of them.

"Ahhh I thought you trusted me Kyo." Hiyomi said softly. He shifted his hand to reveal a gun hidden inside his jacket and he brought it out as well. He raised the gun so that it was pointed directly at Kyo's heart.

"And it's good thing I didn't no?" Kyo said, equally soft. He shifted and handed Momiji another gun inside his jacket. Momiji took the gun with wide eyes and stared at it as if afraid of the potential it held. Tohru shifted her gaze on the men and wondered just how many guns they had concealed when they had entered the room. She was even more surprised that Kyo had known all along and planned ahead of time.

"H-Hiyomi kun. What are you doing?" Tohru stammered clenching onto Kyo's arm.

"He planned this all from the beginning. Those are Akito's men." Kyo answered in his stead.

Hiyomi's eyes widened realizing there was now nothing to hide.

"How clever Kyo. But why did you allow Tohru to talk with me last week if you didn't trust me?"

"I knew you weren't planning on killing us until now. You wanted to figure out more about where we stayed, what Tohru knew about the Sohmas'. And use her against us. That's why you talked about taking her to Japan right? You wanted to keep her hostage like last time."

"Indeed." Hiyomi grinned. "But I can't deny Tohru is pretty cute. I don't understand why one of you don't take her already.."

"Shut up." Kyo said sharply. He clicked the gun in his hand and shifted it to move closer to Hiyomi. "Where's Akito?"

"I already told you. He's in Japan."

"Like hell, you got those bruises from him didn't you?"

Tohru blinked registering now that some of the bruises on Hiyomi's neck looked self inflicted and too unnatural to be a small accident.

"Hiyomi kun..." She whispered.

"Ahhh Tohru." Hiyomi grinned keeping his gun raised. "I did like you a lot. But I guess I have no choice in this matter. I'm sorry if I hurt you but..."

"Duck!" Kyo ordered.

Immediately shots were being fired and Tohru at the same time felt someone push her hard to the ground along with Momiji. She felt the impacts of the bullets hit the walls and glass shatter on top of her. She felt in pain pieces of wood and glass fall against her hair and she covered her head with her hands.

Kyo rose up and immediately shot bullets at the men behind Hiyomi who attempted to dodge and slammed into the wall instead. He then raised his leg high into the air and kicked the gun out of Hiyomi's hands before tackling him to the ground.

"Momiji get Tohru and run!"

"Roger!"

Tohru felt Momiji pull her along as the two crawled under the table and Tohru felt someone grab her leg yanking it close to him. She screamed as pain shot up her leg but turned to find that it was one of the guards, bleeding and not giving in. He yanked at her leg dragging her towards him.

Momiji immediately turned and delivered a sharp blow to the guard's face. The guard yelled out a scream of fury and shifted pointing his gun at Tohru who froze terrified to the spot. Momiji immediately pushed Tohru out of the way and shoved the guard to the ground before delivering hard punches to the guard's face. He then turned and pulled Tohru away from the men and pushed her under the table.

"Tohru. Stay still!" Momiji ordered as he rose up and ran grabbing Hiyomi's arms from behind.

"Arrrrgh!" Hiyomi screamed furious trying to yank his arms free and deliver blows at Kyo, who dodged his swipes and immediately used his hands to twist his legs. He screamed in pain and yelled a string of curses.

As Tohru raised her head to look between the table leg cracks her eyes fell onto one of the guards who had been shot by Kyo. He was near the window and was bleeding profusely. It was as if things were suddenly in slow motion at that moment. As Tohru watched, the man got up slowly and spotted a gun laying on the floor that was right between his foot and the table. Acting instinctively the Tohru and the man both slid across the floor for the gun but the guard beat her to it yanking it off the ground and raising it into the air. Tohru slammed into the floor hitting her jaw and her eyes welled up in teary pain. As she raised her head she saw the gun gleam as it pointed high In the air landing right across from the back of...Kyo. Her eyes widened in alarm.

Before she could even protest, before she had even time to think, Tohru lurched and put herself between them. The sound of the gun shot echoed in the room as the bullet shot Tohru in the back. Tohru froze in complete stillness for a moment and Kyo's eyes widened as he took in Tohru's face before she fell forward and crumpled to the ground.

"TOHRU!"


	10. Chapter 10

It was as if time had stopped. Tohru at first felt absolute numbness for a split fraction of a second, then she was crumpling onto the ground as her shoulder felt alive and burning in all different sensations. She couldn't move for how great the pain was. She never felt anything so hard, so painful. She felt she was dying. No more than that, she wished she was dead for how greatly it hurt.

Kyo immediately kicked the gun out of the man's hand and delivered a sharp blow into his face. Blood spurted and the man lay on the ground writhing and screaming in pain.

Tohru wasn't screaming. But she wasn't moving either. She lay on the ground motionless and unable to speak. She couldn't even breathe.

Another shot was heard and Momiji shoved Hiyomi against the wall who screamed at the impact. "Kyo! Tohru!"

"I know!"

Another blow was delivered and Hiyomi lay crumpled to the ground. Kyo wiped his mouth which was bleeding and picked up all of the guns laying on the floor and threw them out the window before hurrying over to where Tohru lay.

"K-Kyo what do we-?!" Momiji stammered helping Tohru off the ground.

"Momiji I need you to help me carry Tohru, we need to get out of here."

"But Kyo...Hiyomi...he's dying..!"

The two glanced at Hiyomi who looked as if he had no last breath in him. He had two gun shot wounds in his chest from the earlier havoc and he was breathing rapidly at a fast pace.

As the two watched Hiyomi raised his hands in the air and pointed at Tohru grinning.

Kyo stared at Hiyomi coldly the two unable to move at the spot.

"Monster." Hiyomi finally whispered. And then he was gone. His eyes glazed over and breathing stopped altogether.

It was silent for a moment when finally Momiji broke it.

"Are the other two dead?" He asked trembling. His hands still shook as he clasped his own gun with both of his hands.

"One is. But the other lost consciousness. Momiji I need you to help me, we have to get Tohru out of here."

"R-right."

Together the two hauled Tohru into Kyo's arms who gathered her arms to put her arms around his neck before he took off running. Momiji followed closely behind him making sure the area was clear of other possible threats and dangers. He tightened his hold onto Tohru as he noticed she was bleeding profusely and her blouse was now stained heavily with blood.

As they made their way through the restaurant several people were cowering against the wall in fear. The owner was yelling something angrily in Italian and pointing to the walls that had been damaged with the bullets. It didn't matter. The three left the restaurant in a flash and in a split second were on their way down the alleys of Venice.

"Where are we going?" Momiji asked breathlessly.

"We're going home."

"B-but she needs to go to the hospital!"

"I know!"

The three reached their apartment and Kyo had the door open in a swift movement before they clambered inside. Momiji yanked the door shut locking it behind them.

Kyo set Tohru onto the bed as gently as possible and began to unbutton her shirt.

"K-Kyo." Momiji whispered still shaking at the event. He began to turn a bit red.

"Momiji I need you to focus." Kyo said his voice hard and mechanical. "Get me a bowl of warm water, a towel, and the first aid kid. Get lots of towels."

"Y-yea."

Momiji ran to the bathroom in a flash and scampered to get materials. At the same time Kyo had Tohru's shirt fully unbuttoned and he used his pocket knife to cut it away and threw the shirt next to her before gently picking Tohru up and laying her so that her back was facing him. He swallowed seeing the wound piercing her back. It was extremely red not counting the blood that was overflowing now onto the bed.

"Momiji!"

"Here!" Momiji shoved several white towels into Kyo's hands, who quickly began to stop the blood with the towels.

"Is there antiseptic in there?"

"Y-yea I think? Oh yea! Here!" Momiji shoved the large bottle into Kyo's hands who grabbed Tohru's arm before pouring it onto the wound. Immediately Tohru gasped in the searing pain, but was still unable to move as the pain intensified into a burning heat before subsiding.

"Tohru are you ok? Can you hear me?" Kyo asked.

"Y-yea." Tohru choked out.

"Hold on. We're going to clean your wound up and get the bullet out." He said firmly.

"B-" She felt Kyo clean up the surrounding blood and heard Momiji gasp as he saw the wound clearly for the first time.

"Kyo...the hospital.." He said in a hushed whisper.

"We can't." Kyo said through gritted teeth. "Akito's in Venice. We have to stay put. Momiji give Tohru the two pills in my bag."

"W-what?! But Kyo that's.."

Seeming lost for words Momiji seemed to immediately give up protesting and obliged, running off to retrieve the pills. He returned and put it in Tohru's mouth who couldn't even find the strength to swallow.

"Tohru I need you to swallow that. I know it's hard." Kyo encouraged.

Using every ounce of the strength in her mouth Tohru felt tears pouring on her face as she worked to swallow the pills. As they finally went down she felt Kyo moving behind her and gathering materials.

"Get a dish." He ordered.

"Ok."

Finally she felt something small and cold press against her back. She realized with a start that he was going to remove the bullet.

"K-k-Kyo- ahhhh!" Tohru felt Momiji tighten his hold on her arm and cover her mouth with his hands. Whispering soothing words to her Momiji apologized profusely. Kyo held her body down with his free arm, keeping her from moving, tightening his hold on her as he worked to remove the bullet. The medicine was slowly making her feel drowsy but the sharp pain as he inserted the cold tool into her back had her unable to form coherent thoughts. She thrashed on the bed tears pouring down her face. After a long moment of struggling she suddenly felt the medicine take over completely and she couldn't feel anything except for the soothing words next to her ear telling her to stay calm...

...

The next morning Tohru awoke and immediately felt the weight of the pain in her shoulder. Instead of moving she lay completely still and wandered her eyes around the room. She felt fabric which meant either Kyo or Momiji had given her one of their dress shirts, and her shoulder felt heavily patched with materials and gauze.

Blinking she glanced next to her and saw that Momiji was fast asleep on the couch with his arm tossed over his eyes and blood still staining his clothes, however as she glanced to her right, she saw that Kyo was sitting at the foot of the bed, his eyes open and completely still.

"K-Kyo-kun..?" She croaked her voice hoarse and shushed by the fatigue.

He immediately glanced at her registering she was now awake. His eyes looked tired like he hadn't slept at all and his clothes were also stained heavily with blood. He got up and sat next to her. Kneeling over he looked her in the eyes.

"You up?"

"Yea.." She whispered.

"Hold on, I'll get you water. You lost so much blood-"

"Thank you."

He quickly made his way to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. As gently as possible he helped Tohru up slowly and leaned her against his chest. He then held her chin up so that she could drink the water.

Tohru gulped the water thirstily and felt extremely dizzy and numb. She guessed the medicine earlier was still in effect.

When she finished the water, Kyo helped her lay down once more and pulled the covers to cover her more snuggly.

"What was the medicine you gave me?" She whispered as he set the cup down. Kyo simply looked at her his face a bit impassive before answering.

"It was a type of drug used for sleep. It's fairly powerful, but...I gave you an overdose so that you would go unconscious while I got the bullet out."

"Ahh." Tohru replied. She glanced around the room but saw that the bullet and her old shirt were gone.

"We threw it away." Kyo explained.

"I see..."

It was silent for a moment and Kyo slowly sat down next to her, a bit closer than where had been before. He felt her forehead for a moment.

"How's your...shoulder?"

Tohru blinked and smiled weakly to him. "It doesn't hurt as much as yesterday..."

His eyes seemed to shift at her words and he swallowed. "Tohru...you blocked me from getting hit didn't you?" And then his expression changed. He had been paleand blank faced before, but suddenly the underlying implications of what had been bothering him showed through his eyes and voice. He seemed to be shaken, frustrated, guilty, and most of all sad.

Tohru stared at him. They held each other's gazes for a long moment.

Simply she nodded giving him a soft smile.

"You...stupid.." He clenched his teeth and looked down unable to look at her in the eyes.

"Why did you do that?" He whispered fighting his emotions of rage and guilt.

Tohru was silent for a moment contemplating. "It...was the right thing to do." She finally said.

"No...you got hurt really bad Tohru. You almost..." He sighed. "I should never have put you in that situation. I didn't think he would have so many guns on him...but I could have prevented it.."

"No..Kyo-kun it's not your fault." Tohru whispered.

"But you-"

"I'd rather..." At that he looked up and stared at her as she finished her sentence smiling weakly at him. "...it me getting hurt then you Kyo-kun..."

Kyo held her gaze for a long moment seeming unable to answer. His eyes softened into a glimmer as he leaned forward towards her. Tohru sat very still as she felt Kyo shift and his lips gently touch her temple. Her eyes gently fluttered closed at the contact .

"Thank you." He murmured against her forehead. His lips lingered for a long moment before he pulled away and adjusted the blankets once more. "Rest..."

Normally Tohru would have freaked out in this situation, however after all of the events, all she could muster up right now were emotions of gratitude, comfort, and relief. "Kyo-kun you should rest as well...you saved both me and Momiji. You look so tired.." She said softly.

"Worry about yourself first." He nodded to her. "As soon as you're able to move we'll leave. Until then just rest."

...

After Tohru had drifted off a second time, she awoke and noticed the room was quite darker then before. It seemed it was night, and Momiji was awake. Both him and Kyo were talking quietly in whispers at the dining table.

"...What about Hiyomi-kun?" The days events immediately registered in her mind and she listened as the two silently talked.

"I bet the police found his body and the others. Luckily I threw the guns away but its' only a matter of time before they find the guns. We might even get arrested since there's not much evidence of self defense."

"We have to leave right away then." Momiji whispered.

"Yes."

"But Tohru...she's still really weak. I read that people with gun wounds take months to heal...we shouldn't move her..."

"It's dangerous to take her and dangerous to leave her here...unless we can find someone trustworthy to take care of her here. Which isn't likely."

"Do you think Tohru can meet Hatori in Japan? He's trustable."

"Maybe...if we could find a way to stay with Haru. There's no way we can go to a hospital here, they have all the records on file for Akito."

"Even though it's a bit risky, we should do that. Tohru could get seriously worse if she doesn't meet a doctor.."

"I know...it's just really risky to go to Japan of all places." At that Kyo glanced at Tohru who blinked at him. He took in the fact that she was awake and quickly shifted his chair and walked over to her.

"Sleep well?" Kyo asked. He checked her forehead for a temperature before she could reply, and frowned. "You're a bit hotter than yesterday..."

"TOHRU!" Momiji yelled also noticing she was now awake. Momiji immediately got up and practically flew to her side. "Are you ok?! I was worried sick..." He crouched next to her scanning her face for any signs of discomfort.

"I am a bit warm.." Tohru admitted.

Momiji's excited face quickly fell as he took in her weak expression. "You should rest."

"But...we have to get going.." Tohru protested.

"No. Rest." Kyo said firmly. "We'll leave as soon as we can. But for now if you don't take care of your body, you could be put in a dangerous situation."

"Yea!" Momiji agreed nodding vigorously. "Rest up Tohru!"

"But I want to know...what happened to Hiyomi-kun?" She asked.

Both Kyo and Momiji glanced at one another at that, and Kyo sighed running his hand through his hair.

"Yes...I'm sorry you had to see that." He said. " I'll explain details later, but he's dead. We had to kill all of them or else they would have killed us. I knew from the beginning Hiyomi couldn't be trusted, so that was a mistake to drag it out so long.."

"Then...they're all dead?" Tohru's eyes widened.

"Yes. I had to finish off the other one so that he didn't go back to Akito and tell him where we were. He could have followed us here..."

"But...why?"

Kyo's eyes hardened. "Hiyomi was probably told by Akito to trick us. Akito knew of our relationship, but I never guessed he would actually order Hiyomi to kill us. But seeing from the situation, he was only ordered to kill me, and bring Momiji back as his bullets were directed towards me only. And you just happened to stop him."

"Then...we have to go somewhere safe." Tohru's stammered. "What if he lied to us? What if Akito is in the city right now?"

"He might be. That's why we're not safe here..."

"But-"

"I'll be back." Kyo cut across her, and walked across the room to swiftly put on his coat. "I'm going to buy some new clothes for us, and some iron tablets. Tohru lost too much blood. Momiji make sure to consistently give her water."

"Aiyai!" Momiji held up his hands in salute.

He soon left apartment with a loud clang and Tohru and Momiji were silent.

"Tohru...seriously your health is what matters first." Momiji whispered gently squeezing her hand. "Hiyomi could have gotten all of us killed, but luckily Kyo saved us. And you saved him."

Tohru blinked. She had never experienced something so scary, but as she thought about it more she was shocked that she could find no sympathy for the death of the other men who had been next to Hiyomi. The only regret she found was trusting Hiyomi when he had all along planned to get rid of her...

Soon Momiji stopped talking to allow Tohru to rest, but she didn't sleep. She simply thought in her head of the gaping hold she felt about the death of Hiyomi, and the worry she felt for the three, but also how she could heal fast enough to get them out.

After half an hour later, Kyo was back with the materials. He gave tablets to Tohru who swallowed it and Kyo told Momiji to leave the room.

"Huh? Why?" Momiji blinked.

"Tohru has to change." Kyo said simply.

"W-wait but then why are you staying-?"

"She can't change by herself." Kyo said it as if obvious. "And I need to re-bandage her shoulder."

"Oh...ok." Momiji blushed. He stared at Kyo but obliged and left the room occasionally shooting him warning glances.

Tohru felt a bit embarrassed, but the pain in her shoulder took over all other embarrassed worries. Kyo slowly helped Tohru in an upright position and began to unbutton her blouse.

When he noticed her frozen posture he stopped midway and said quietly. "If it's embarrassing you, close your eyes."

"N-no I understand." Tohru stammered, and she shifted her gaze going a bright pink. He nodded and continued to unbutton her blouse downwards.

Tohru averted her eyes trying not to focus on his hands or how approximately close his body was to hers. After removing her shirt he lightly pulled the sleeves down and helped her arms out of them gently, using a feather light touch. Tohru was glad she had a light pink bra on, but wished with embarrassment that she had at least had a camisole to cover her chest. Well it was out of question now..

He then sat behind Tohru and began to remove the bandage on her back. It was heavily taped to her back, so he worked at lightly pulling it off and used a towel with water to lightly clean up dry blood in several areas.

"Does it need to be changed a lot?" Tohru asked feeling herself feel a bit nauseous from sitting up right. She felt her body a bit heated and clammy as well.

Kyo noticed her shortness of breath and raised his hand using the back of it to touch her neck.

"Tohru...are you cold?"

"No...I'm.. feeling really sweaty." Tohru breathed trying to keep herself up. She found the pain in her shoulder heighten at her efforts to stay upright.

Kyo immediately got up and sat in front of her. Using his free hand he pulled her gently to his chest so that her forehead was leaning against his chest and her back was facing outwards. Putting his arm around her he worked on her bandage so that he was supporting her body.

Tohru breathed and felt the warmth of his chest against her cheek and closed her eyes. She felt a bit better, but couldn't concentrate on his hands for how numb she felt. She felt relieved she could simply lean into him instead of using her muscles to keep herself up. She also avoided pressing her chest to his so that he wouldn't transform.

"Tohru this will hurt." Kyo murmured. He pressed something wet against her back and she flinched digging her head into his chest. It stung her wound and made the pain increase until it gently subsided. He rubbed her arms in assurance and removed the medicine placing it away from them.

"We have to make sure it's not infected...but seeing that you're so warm...this is not good." He said quietly. It seemed he was saying this mostly to himself.

Tohru kept her eyes closed but felt him start to gently wrap the gauze around her shoulder and secure it with healing tape. He then reached over and grabbed her shirt and put it around her. Once more he helped her arms through the holes before beginning to button the buttons back up.

Tohru didn't comment but noticed how Kyo averted his eyes and focused solely on the buttons until he had finished working his way up.

Reaching over he felt her forehead once more.

"It's hot.." He murmured seriously. He helped her lay down and pulled the covers around her before going to the kitchen.

When he returned he had towels soaked with cold water. Ringing them out he placed them gently on top of Tohru's head, and she relaxed further by the temperature change.

"If only Hatori was here.." He sighed.

"Who's Hatori?" Tohru murmured feeling a bit drowsy now that she was back to laying down.

"He's our family doctor for the Sohmas'. He's not that close to me, but he's not that close to Akito either.." He sighed and yelled across the room.

"Momiji you can come out now!"

Momiji cracked the door open from the bathroom and blushed a bit. "Tohru...you done?"

"Yea.." Tohru smiled at him. Momiji grinned. "Too bad Kyo's the older one, I wanted to help-"

Kyo immediately threw a pillow at Momiji's face.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning Tohru woke up to an extreme pain she couldn't even describe. It hurt even more than the time she had the bullet taken out of her back. She felt tears run down her face at rapid speeds and she sniffled into her pillow gasping at the pain. She felt hot all over.

"Tohru?" Kyo had woken up to the sounds of her sniffling and he came to her side sweeping the hair out of her face. He saw her tears and felt her forehead.

"Hold on."

He came back with a thermometer in the first aid kit and measured her temperature behind her ear. Checking it he blinked going frozen.

Getting up, he shook Momiji awake.

"Mmm?" Momiji groaned and waved Kyo's hands away. "Five more minutes.."

"Get up. We're leaving."

"Hahhh?" Momiji blinked almost falling off the couch. "What's going on?!"

"Tohru." Kyo said.

He was then back to Tohru's side in a flash and began to gather materials around the bed and stuff them into his backpack.

"I think her wound is getting infected. Her fever is dangerous and really high." He put on his jacket and went to the kitchen to grab supplies. "She's in more pain then before. This isn't good."

"W-wait. Tohru what's wrong?" Momiji came over to Tohru's side and gasped as he saw her tears and sweat rolling down her neck. "Kyo...are we going to Hatori's?"

"We are. If she's left untreated..." He swallowed and didn't finish. Grabbing the rest of the necessities he waited until Momiji had finished dressing.

"Problem is...how do we get out of here unspotted?" Momiji asked worriedly.

"I don't know...but we'll have to try." Kyo slung on the backpack and went over to Tohru. Gathering her into his arms, he told Momiji to bring the other items in the backpack before the two left the apartment.

Tohru blinked brightly registering they were now outside. The bright light of the morning flashed in her eyes and she felt herself drift in and out of consciousness.

"Kyo...I don't think you can carry her all the way to the taxis." Momiji said as they hurriedly walked down the alleys.

"Let's get a gondola."

Kyo made a swerve and they made their way to the canal. Handing bills to the first man they saw, they made their way inside the gondola. The man blinked in surprise but made no comment as he watched Kyo gently set Tohru on the seat next to him and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"To the outskirts." Kyo said. "I'll pay you extra to get to the grand market square."

The man nodded and the gondola began to move leading them down the beautiful blue canal. Momiji gathered a blanket and covered Tohru with it before hiding his hair with a baseball cap as well as Kyo's.

"I'll pay you extra to go fast as well." Kyo said gritting his teeth as he saw the gondola make its way through areas of crowded people and tourists.

The two continued to check on each direction for Akito's men, but luckily no one seemed to be following them. Reaching their destination, Kyo immediately swept Tohru into his arms and Momiji followed him as they took a taxi at the edge of the square.

Tohru felt too feverish and painful to even register what was fully going on. When she blinked her eyes they were suddenly at the airport and she was inside a wheelchair.

"K-Kyo-kun?" Tohru asked surprised.

"Hold on. We're waiting for our flight to Narita."

Tohru blinked rapidly. "We're...going to Japan?"

"Yes. You need to see a doctor fast. Hatori is the best doctor to treat you as well as keep it a secret from Akito. If we see a regular clinic they'll just refer us to a larger hospital."

"B-but...what if Akito.."

"We'll have to risk him not tracking our flight. Either way we're not letting you not see a doctor."

"I see..." Tohru drifted off feeling her stomach grow even more nauseous. This time it was hard to even keep herself upright.

What felt like days was merely a few hours of waiting for their flight, and the three boarded the plane in no time. The plane ride was a blur to Tohru. All she could focus on was the extreme pain and heat she felt in her shoulder and body. She continued to sweat profusely and had to use Kyo's side for support continuously. The three finally landed in Narita, Japan and Kyo hailed a cab at the gates to take them to Haru's house.

By then Tohru had fallen asleep during the car ride, and when she awoke they were in front of a large house made Japanese style with wooden panels, doors, a garden in the front. A name plate spelling "Sohma" was off to the side, indicating they were at the right place.

Kyo picked up Tohru once more and carried her to the front gates. Momiji pranced forward to ring the doorbell on it.

After a split second the buzzer sounded and deep husky male voice asked.

"Who is it?"

"Kyo Sohma. Momiji Sohma." Kyo replied evenly.

The person paused but immediately opened the gate and allowed the three to enter.

Once inside the garden area and the front, the gate closed behind them and Kyo made his way to the front door with Tohru still in his arms.

A man was waiting for them at the front door, and his eyes grew wide taking in their appearance. Tohru felt a bit too dizzy to pay attention to who they were seeing, but she could tell he was young by his voice.

"The hell you three doing here?" He asked.

"Hey." Kyo said. "Long time no see Haru."

"I missed you Haru!" Momiji smiled and bounded forward to give him a large hug. The young man named Haru glanced at Momiji with a gentle smileruffling his hair a bit. "You grew taller Momiji. Who's that chick who looks dead?" He asked nudging his chin to Tohru.

"She's not dead. She's really sick, and she needs to see Hatori." Kyo gritted his teeth. "We'll tell you details later."

"Alright. Come into my humble abode." Haru said lazily and he moved aside to allow Kyo to go inside the house with Tohru, and hooked his arms around Momiji as the two walked in together. Once inside, Kyo immediately made his way to the guest room and ordered Momiji to set up the futons. Once Momiji had finished arranging the bed sheets, he lay Tohru down, and covered her with the blankets.

Haru watched the whole interaction at the door of the room silently and once the three left the room to let Tohru rest, they paddled their way to the living room.

"So...who is she?" Haru asked sitting on the couch opposite of Kyo and Momiji.

"She's important." Momiji said immediately. "We accidently crossed paths with her while me and Kyo were hiding in Venice. We kinda became a crew, and then she got shot when Hiyomi tried to kill us-"

"Hiyomi tried to kill you?!" Haru asked his voice raising and he looked even more shocked then before. His eyes blinked a bit more alert then the sleepy stance they had before.

"Yea...we're still targeted by Akito, so he used him to get to us." Momiji frowned.

"I heard he was in Venice but...I thought he would help you guys." Haru murmured. He swept his hair back with his free hand and glanced at Kyo.

"So...did you take a liking to that girl or something?"

"What?" Kyo asked sharply. He had been listening, but not really paying attention either. His face slightly reddened at Haru's comment and he coughed to relieve the tension.

"You seem a lot more mature lately...when you're around this kid." He tilted his head to Momiji. "You were pretty messed up in the head actually when you left. Then you're suddenly this knight in shining armor when it comes to that girl...something has changed."

"Changed..." Kyo repeated giving a slight chuckle.

"Yea, so you guys are still targeted? I don't know if it's a good idea to come to my place then..." Haru frowned. "Akito doesn't come here, but a lot of his workers come here to clean and stuff like that."

"Where's Rin?" Momiji asked curiously glancing around the large house.

"Rin's studying abroad..." Haru's smile faded. "She'll be back this summer."

"Ahhh poor Haru." Momiji whined he fell onto the back of the couch wiggling around.

"Oh...and I forgot to mention, someone else is living with me..."

...

Tohru blinked her eyes open. Her body felt covered in sweat and heat. She breathed taking in the cold air of the room. She was laying on what seemed to be a Japanese style futon. Her head felt clouded with fever and she grasped at the sheets for a bit before taking off the blanket due to the extreme heat she felt.

Shifting around in the bed she noticed the door open a crack and light shone into the room. She couldn't make out who it was due to her feverish state. She choked a bit and tried to breath evenly but could only manage to whisper.

"Water..." She tried to say to the figure. She couldn't tell whether or not it was Kyo, Momiji, or a stranger.

The figure stood there silently for a moment, before leaving. After a few moments the door cracked open once more and the figure made its way towards her.

She felt someone with a light cool hand gently place it behind her head to bring it up. She winced at the pain but allowed the person to help her up and shift her upwards.

A cool glass cup met her lips and she drank the water thirstily. She then moved away indicating she was done, and she closed her eyes breathing in large gasps.

The person kept his hold onto her for a moment before gently laying her back down and covering her with the blankets.

As Tohru blinked her eyes open once more she took in the strange man, and noticed with a start that it almost seemed like a girl. Or was it a man?

All she saw before he left was the smooth strands of grey on his head.

...

"WHAT?!"

"So you can leave if you want..." Haru continued calmly seeming to have expected Kyo's reaction.

"THE HELL IS HE DOING HERE?!"

"Well you didn't really give me a heads up before you came and neither did he.."

"Where is he where is he?!" Momiji asked excitedly.

"What is this ruckus?"

All three men turned their heads and looked to the entrance to the living room. They fell silent taking in the figure standing before them. A tall slender man with a pale and thin frame stood at the doorway. He had long strands of silver and violet amethyst eyes that reflected the light in specs. He wore a simple white shirt with grey pants, and his face was smooth and confused. He was handsome, and frail looking.

"Oh.." He took in Kyo and Momiji and blinked his mouth opening slightly. "I see now why there was a random girl over there.."

"You met Tohru?!" Momiji gasped getting up and bounding forward. He immediately wrapped his arms around Yuki's slender waist and cried tears of joy. "I missed you so much Yuki!"

"I missed you as well Momiji." Yuki smiled and hugged Momiji back lightly. "It's been a while."

"Yea.." Kyo scoffed. His eyes narrowed taking in Yuki's stance. With each second passing by Kyo seemed to clearly indicate his hatred of being in the same room as Yuki.

Yuki's calm amethyst eyes hardened and narrowed as he set his eyes on Kyo. Keeping his arms around Momiji for a moment before letting go he asked "Why are you two here? And who is the girl?"

"You don't need to know. Just keep quiet about us." Kyo said sharply. He then blinked. "Wait you saw her already?"

"Yes...I went into my room and was confused why a strange girl lay there.."

"She's not strange she's fucking injured you moron-!"

"Now...Kyon let's not fight. I want to keep my house." Haru sighed slinging his arm over the couch. "Yuki lives with me, so you're a guest for now. Try to get along...Peace..."

"Like hell I'll-" Kyo breathed slowly trying to control his anger. He slumped onto the seat next to Haru and kept his eyes averted from Yuki's face.

"But Yuki...that's why we're here. We need you to contact Hatori and bring him here." Momiji said seriously looking into Yuki's eyes as he grasped Yuki's hands with his own. "Tohru's terribly sick! She got shot by Hiyomi!"

"The girl? She got shot?" Yuki blinked his eyes growing wide in alarm. "Why would Hiyomi shoot her?!"

"Akito ordered him to kill us, or Shigure did." Kyo sighed as if deciding to simply be ok with Yuki's presence for now. "She already has an extremely high fever. She hasn't been treated since two days ago."

"Have you disinfected the wound and bandaged it?" Yuki asked sharply.

"Of course, we're not stupid-" Kyo gritted his teeth and bit away the next words he was about to spit out. "Anyways, are you going to help us or not?"

"And you're staying in Japan until she sees Hatori?"

"Yea...anything else?"

"No...but I'm wondering if we can trust her. She doesn't know about the curse does she?"

Momiji's eyes widened in alarm. "Yuki...she knows everything. She knew everything from the start, and stayed with us despite it all. You can trust her, once you talk to her you'll know!"

"Alright, I'll contact Hatori..." Yuki said quietly. He then glanced at Haru who simply shrugged his shoulders at him.

"Well...not like Akito's gunna show up at my place. And not like it's unusual for Hatori to come check you once in a while. You can feign and say you had another asthma attack."

"Yea..." Yuki sighed. "But you guys should leave once she's treated."

"We know stupid rat." Kyo mumbled, but otherwise he got up. "I'll go check on her, Haru do you have some ice in the fridge?"

"My home your home." Haru gestured with his hands in the air to the kitchen. "I'll have to call the maids away tomorrow shouldn't I?"

"Yea... no one can know we're here...for maybe a week."

"Akito still after you huh?"

With that Kyo left getting ice from the fridge for Tohru, and Momiji followed wanting to help.

Yuki stared after them for a moment before sitting down on the couch next to Haru.

"A week? What are we going to do?" He asked quietly.

Haru looked away with a far off look before answering. "What can we do? Akito told us if he ever found out we were with them, he would kill us as well."

"Would he?"

"I don't know...but Rin's not in a good position right now. If he finds out about the girl and Kyo and Momiji...she's definitely not safe."

"They should leave." Yuki sighed frustrated running a hand through his long strands of silver. "They're not safe here...or anywhere for that matter..."

"But the girl might die. She's kinda half dead right now yknow." Haru rolled his eyes at Yuki. "Have some heart Yuki."

"Not when the whole Sohma line rests on a couple of dumb runaways." Yuki said his voice cold and hard.

"Funny...that's very true." Haru murmured his eyes glinting indicating a slight smile.

"But you may be surprised. She was very cute when I saw her face."

"That has nothing to do with anything."

"But I feel bad.." Haru took his necklace around his neck and began to spin the beads around in his fingers. "A pretty girl like her...getting mixed up with the Sohmas'...she's not a bad person, she just had bad luck."

Yuki was silent for a moment. He then said quietly "I'll call Hatori."

Getting up he walked away leaving Haru still laying on the couch. Haru smirked at Yuki's reaction before closing his eyes and drifting his thoughts elsewhere..

...

Hatori stood in the living room, his eyes cold and hard.

"Why are you two here?" He asked his voice as smooth, melodic, and serious as it always had been.

Kyo crossed his arms across his chest and Momiji smiled and waved at Hatori, his smile slightly faltering at his strong gaze. "Hi Haa-san." Momiji whispered.

"Long time no see." Kyo nodded to Hatori, matching his posture.

"I said why are you two here?" Hatori asked once more not waving back to Momiji, and simply staring straight at Kyo.

"We need you to see someone." Kyo said as strongly as he could.

"Oh?"

"She's not a Sohma. But she got shot and has a gun wound. She's extremely feverish and she lost a lot of blood."

Hatori blinked and was silent for a moment. "Where is she now?"

"Here."

"Here..." Hatori repeated and closed his eyes pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. He let out a large sigh.

"Does Akito know you two are in Japan?"

"No...and we'd like to keep it that way."

"It's highly likely he'll find out."

"Not if you two help us."

"Kyo..." Hatori's voice strengthened in coldness as he pronounced each word evenly. "You have put all of us in great danger just by showing up. Not to mention you involved a stranger with us. How do you expect us to help you?"

"I'm not." Kyo cleared his voice. "I'm asking you to."

Then suddenly Hatori and Yuki both froze their eyes widening. Kyo had dropped to his knees in front of them. He hung his head low to the ground and tightened his knuckles on the bamboo flooring. Momiji gasped and immediately went to Kyo's side grabbing his arm trying to pull him up.

"Kyo! What are you doing?!"

"I promise we'll leave as soon as she's healed." Kyo said through clenched teeth. He didn't raise his head but tightened his fists harder against the ground as he said so. He didn't budge as Momiji pulled on him, and Momiji gave up, listening to Kyo's words in stony silence.

"I swear we won't ask anything again. We'll leave and pretend you saw nothing. We won't talk about you or Yuki to anyone. I just ask... please save her."

Hatori remained silent looking at Kyo's figure. His expression hadn't changed but his eyes were widened in shock. Never before had he seen Kyo release his pride and request something so bold. Yuki looked at Kyo to Hatori more shocked than anyone. Kyo had never shown signs of weakness before him... he had always made loud excuses that he would never let him defeat him, but now here Kyo was before them, begging at their feet for the fate of a girl...

The room was silent for a long moment. Finally Hatori swallowed before asking quietly "Where is she?"

At this Kyo lifted his head up. His eyes held a hint of surprise, mixed with gratitude and relief. Hatori glanced away from Kyo and began to take off his jacket indicating he was now prepared to stay. Kyo immediately got up and dusted himself a bit before leading Hatori away from the room and down the hall way. Wordlessly, Momiji and Haru followed along, with Yuki right behind them.

Kyo slung open the guest room door and turned on the lights. Tohru blinked at the bright light that now poured into the room. She felt feverish, and numb everywhere. She knew people were in the room, but she couldn't really figure out whether or not it was a dream or a hallucination.

"K-Kyo-kun?" She breathed as sweat ran down her forehead. She felt someone come to her side and help her in an upright position. She leaned against the person for support and breathed fast and hard.

"How long has it been since she's been shot with the gun?" Hatori asked. He immediately knelt next to Tohru and took his stethoscope and pressed it against her chest. Listening to it his eyes glinted in surprise and he began to rummage in his suitcase for materials.

"Two days." Kyo answered. "We gave her water as much as we could but she lost a lot of blood during those days. We disinfected her wound with a first aid kit and I took out the main bullet but I don't know if there are still some shards. We also re-bandaged her wound at least three times a day before coming here. Twice today. "

At that Hatori turned Tohru so that her back faced him and began to raise her shirt so that he could see the bandage on her back. He began to remove the tape surrounding the bandage. Yuki and Haru watched silently at the doorway unsure how to make the situation. Momiji sat next to Hatori's side waiting for instructions of assistance.

Hatori carefully peeled away the bandage and frowned looking at the bright wound on Tohru's back.

"It's infected. Well on the verge of being fully infected...There's sharpels still intact inside her shoulder judging from the swelling in some areas."

"What do we do?" Kyo asked.

"Luckily I have the materials with me to take the sharpels out right now, and some antiseptic. I'll have to take them out and prescribe her antibiotics, or else her fever will rise. I can treat her wound here however with the items I have."

Kyo nodded. "We'll leave the room then."

"Wait." Hatori took out a notepad and scratched a note onto it and handed it to Momiji.

"Give that to Haru, go to the nearest Pharmacy and get me those antibiotics. I also prefer to move her to my clinic but since we're not in a situation to do that...I'll make do with the stuff I have here."

"Alright." Momiji nodded quickly and gave the note to Haru leaving the room with him. Yuki silently watched Hatori shifted Tohru onto her side before pressing her face down. He then inserted a needle into her arm.

"What's that?" Yuki asked quietly.

"It's anesthesia." Hatori replied.

Tohru was soon quiet and unmoving and Hatori ushered to Kyo and Yuki to leave the room. The two left quietly and stood outside for a moment before making their way back to the living room.

"Who is she?" Yuki asked looking at Kyo with an expression with genuine confusion and mixed curiosity. "Why would Hiyomi shoot her even if she's with you? She has nothing to do with the Sohmas..."

"That's why.." Kyo murmured. He stopped walking and faced Yuki, his eyes cold but filled with an underlying emotion. "That bullet...was meant for me. One of Hiyomi's men pointed the gun at me, but Tohru blocked the bullet with her body."

"She saved you?" Yuki gasped. "Why would she go to such lengths?"

Kyo lightly punched Yuki's chest with his fist and glared at him. "If you talked to her you would know...she's that kind of girl. Don't talk lightly of her again."

With that Kyo turned and walked down the hall leaving Yuki blinking and taken back.

...

It past two full days until Tohru came around. She felt a lot better, and she could even help herself get up. The only underlying problem was the sharp pain in her shoulder that hurt every time she tried to move. However, it was bearable compared to her previous fever and infection..

She sighed and tried to help herself up, feeling the blankets around her fall to the ground as she struggled. Tohru finally stood up fully and she tightened her hold on her arm before trudging her way to the door and opening it. Light filled her eyes, and she took in her surroundings her mouth slightly open.

She was in a Japanese style home...it was extremely different from the apartments in Venice she had been earlier. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all delicate and made of paper and bamboo. The floor was carpeted and several rich paintings hung on the walls. She made her way down the hallway taking in the vast space, before she turned the corner and found herself facing a large open area. There was a large white couch and a TV in the front. There was also a light wooden table and several books scattered about. She made her way to the living room and stared at some of the books for a bit. Title read "Sexiest positions of a girl." And "What men do in times of war." And "Long distance relationships." Whoever read these books...seemed to be a man...

She made her way down the next hall on the left and found herself at the opening of a garden. It was beautiful, and she was reminded of the fresh smells of Japan she had missed. The sunlight was bright and the morning air was fresh with grass and clarity. Tohru glanced around the garden when the color orange flashed in the corner of her eye.

In the center of the garden, Kyo was practicing martial arts. He was merely wearing a black tank top and grey sweats as he sweated profusely practicing punches and hard kicks in the air. Tohru watched silently taking in his strong muscles and stance for a while. Kyo continued to slash the air with hard punches before turning and delivering kicks and flipping around to repeat the process in ultimate speed.

After a while he finally looked up and saw Tohru standing at the doorway watching him.

He blinked once, twice, then stopped and dropped his arms to his sides breathing heavily. "You up?"

"Y-yea." Tohru blushed slightly feeling bad she had been watching and not saying anything, but made her way slowly towards him.

Kyo wiped his neck with the back of his hand and made his way to her. "You sure you don't need help walking?"

"No..I can walk now." Tohru smiled at him. She sat down at the edge of the porch and Kyo stood in front of her still calming his racing heart.

"You sure?" Kyo eyed her expression for a moment before taking his other hand and checking her forehead once more. For some reason, out of all other situations, this one made Tohru feel the most shy. Maybe it was because the two were completely alone. Or maybe it was because now her fever had subsided enough for her to feel conscious of her other feeling and emotions.

Kyo gently drew his hand back and nodded seeming satisfied. "It's gone down a lot. Hatori did a good job."

"Hatori?" Tohru asked tilting her head a bit.

"He's the Sohma family doctor. He's been treating you this whole time you were here."

"Ah! That's right!" Tohru almost jumped up as memories flew back into her head. "W-we're in Japan! And we're at...H-haru's house?"

"Yea we are." Kyo almost chuckled his mouth curving upwards into a slight smile. "And Hatori said you just have to rest a bit more and we can leave soon."

"Ah I see." Tohru smiled in relief. "Thank goodness!"

The two fell into silence for a moment until Tohru finally smiled even brighter at Kyo. "Thank you Kyo...I feel a lot better."

"That's good...I was worried the bullet would have.." He swallowed. "In any case you should go inside and lay down a bit more."

"No I want to stay up a bit. I feel a bit stuffy having been laying down so much." Tohru began to get up when she almost fell forward losing her balance. Kyo quickly and swiftly reached his arms out towards her and grabbed her waist.

Tohru blinked and stopped her hand on his shoulder to keep herself from tumbling over. The two froze for a moment, before Kyo gently let go of her waist and helped her upright.

"S-Sorry." Tohru breathed going a bit pink. "I guess I do need to rest a bit.."

"Toldya." Kyo rolled his eyes at her and gave her a gentle smile. "Come on."

The two made their way back to the living room, and Momiji seemed to have woken up and was yawning laying on the couch. Once he spotted Tohru however, his eyes widened and he jumped up excited.

"TOHRU~!"

As if predicting the outcome, Kyo side stepped and allowed Momiji to pounce on Tohru and pull her into a gentle hug. The room was consumed with a huge puff of pink smoke, and Tohru coughed looking around for the rabbit that was now clinging onto her leg.

She laughed and bent down slowly to bring Momiji into her arms. Momiji snuggled against her cheek smiling happily. "Yay you're better!"

"Yea im getting there!" Tohru laughed happily hugging Momiji to her.

"Thank goodness, I'll have to buy Hari chocolate!"

"Hari? Ah Hatori-san." Tohru smiled. "Where is he right now? I'd also like to thank him."

"Oh he's out. He's super busy, but he said he's stopping by later tonight to check on you." Momiji sniffed Tohru. "And Tohru, you need a shower, we just couldn't give you one those days.."

"Ah yes.." Tohru blinked going red a bit in embarrassment. "But I can do it now by myself!"

"Yea." Kyo sighed and picked Momiji out of Tohru's arms. "Tohru go wash up. I'll make you breakfast. I already gave you extra clothes in your room."

"No! We both will!" Momiji pouted. He jumped out of Kyo's arms and began hopping his way to the kitchen. "I can cook y-know!"

"Like what? Cereal?" Kyo scoffed shaking his head at the rabbit before nodding to Tohru and following Momiji scamper to the kitchen.

Tohru smiled at the two. Despite being away from Venice, they were as rambunctious as ever. She felt safer knowing she was inside someone's home, despite being closer to Akito then ever before.

Making her way around, Tohru finally found the bathrooms and got out the dress Kyo had left in her room before making her way to bathe. It was a long process, however Tohru found moving around made her feel stronger and stronger. As soon as she was done washing her body and hair, Tohru examined her wound in the face of the mirror.

It was less red then before, but she knew it would definitely leave a large scar on her back. Nevertheless...she almost felt a bit proud of herself. She was glad it was mark showing she had done at least something for Kyo and Momiji...

When Tohru finally made her way downstairs, she had the towel slung around her shoulders. As she reached the last step she heard voices and the front door opening. Blinking Tohru almost ran into someone at the foot of the steps.

She raised her head to look at the person in front of her, and he stared at her with a mixed expression of curiousness and solemnity.

Tohru almost blushed because of how handsome he was. He had grey locks and amethyst eyes, but was also very feminine in his physique. His height and slightly broad shoulders were the only indicators of his masculinity.

"Ah...H-hello." Tohru bowed her head to him and towel almost slipped off her shoulders. She grabbed it hastily and smiled bright at him.

"I'm Tohru Honda. Nice to meet you!" She held her hand up offering for him to shake it.

The young man blinked at her seeming taken back at her presence. The two stared at one another for a long moment. Tohru blinked and dropped her hand slowly. She began to feel slightly awkward when he suddenly leaned in and offered her hand as well.

Giving her a gentle smile he took her hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Yuki Sohma."


	12. Chapter 12

"Nice to meet you, I'm Yuki Sohma."

Tohru felt slightly taken back yet relieved at his gentle composure. She took the hand he offered and gently shook it. His hand was so soft. Like silk.

"I'm sorry if we imposed on your situation. But thank you for letting me rest and get better here." She bowed her head to him.

"No...it was all Kyo's doing." Yuki's smile gently twitched upward as if enjoying a private joke. "He begged Hatori to treat you. Otherwise we would have told you three to leave immediately."

"Really?" Tohru blinked her eyes going wide. "K-Kyo?"

"I was surprised as well..." Yuki looked away for a moment seeming to drift into his own thoughts. He then turned his eyes to her and they held a mix of curiosity and smoldering power.

"Just what kind of relationship do you hold with him?" He asked.

"Relationship..?" Tohru breathed. Yuki-kun was much too close then she preferred. His face had drawn closer to her, and he blinked his long lashes at her. He breathed his breath into her face, and she could smell jasmine and lilac just from the hem of his clothes. It was intoxicating, but sensual. However, she couldn't help feeling a sense of overwhelming thrill and comfort at his presence. He was very beautiful, but it was in a different way then the beautifulness Kyo and Momiji held. It was a sense of...calm...

"Ahh she's up."

The two blinked and Yuki turned to look at the man that was in the doorway. The young man held a box of groceries and nodded his head to Tohru. Tohru gasped. She had almost mistaken him for an old man because of his bright white hair. The tufts at the end only indicated the black it once was, and he had several strong tattoos surrounding his forearms and neck. He had strong muscular forearms that were visible against as he was wearing a simple light tank, and he leaned lazily onto his right foot.

"Yo." Haru greeted her. "I'm Haru Sohma. I would shake your hand but..." He lifted the groceries as an explanation. "Yuki help me with these."

"Yes.." Yuki blinked as if snapping out of a daze. He immediately moved forward to help Haru carry the large box inside. Tohru walked quietly behind them, wishing to help, but knowing her current state of being would provide no help to the two men. She felt her cheeks when the two weren't looking and realized she hadn't been blushing, but her body felt a bit hot..

The three made their way to the kitchen, and saw that Kyo and Momiji were in the kitchen bickering over a large boiling pot.

"Why the hell would you put in peppers?!" Kyo was grumbling.

"Because I saw a picture-"

"That's only in pictures they don't actually put that stuff in-"

"Oi. You didn't mess up my lunch did you?" Haru said. He set the box down on the kitchen counter and sniffed the air, which faintly reminded Tohru of burnt eggs and onions.

Kyo and Momiji glanced behind them and both simultaneously made faces at Haru.

"Kyo won't let me put in peppers Hari!" Momiji frowned pulling his apron to his face.

"Kyon let the kid do what he wants." Haru said.

"Then it'll taste bad." Kyo frowned, seeming more and more childish unlike himself. He shot a glare at Yuki who simply stared back with cold eyes. Tohru glanced at the two confused for a moment.

"Fine ask Tohru!" Momiji smiled. "Do you put them in Tohru? In curry?" He hopped over to Tohru and held onto her arm to help support her.

"C-curry?" Tohru blinked at him but couldn't help smiling. "N-no I've never put in peppers...but it would be an interesting idea."

"See that? Put it in next time. Tohru can't eat spicy things anyways." Kyo nodded seeming satisfied with her answer.

"Whattt" Momiji frowned biting his lip. "Just because I'm younger doesn't mean-"

"Momiji, how about I help you set the table." Yuki interceded, knowing where this argument was going, and Momiji's frown increased but he simply listened to Yuki without further complain. As the two left, Tohru glanced at Yuki.

Despite his hard questions earlier, he seemed to be fairly gentle in character, both to Haru and to Momiji. However to Kyo, his demeanor seemed to be...indifferent. As if he took no notice of Kyo being there. She had never met someone who was so handsome and gentle, yet seemed to hold a cold mood towards someone. Haru also seemed to be very laid back, despite his scary appearance. She was slightly afraid of Haru-kun...however he seemed so nice to her that it was hard for her to not feel totally comfortable around the two of them inside the house.

Finally Kyo finished the curry (with some small advice from Tohru) the five sat at the dining room table, five bowls of curry ladled out for each of them.

"Itadakimas." Haru nodded as the four agreed repeating in unison.

"I could make dinner tonight if you don't mind." Tohru immediately offered.

"You can cook?" Haru blinked at her. He spooned a mouthful of curry into his mouth and nodded to Kyo and Momiji. "I usually eat whatever the maids make me. But since they're gone...these two kind of ruined everything."

"This is edible." Kyo sighed running a hand through his hair. "Better then what the rat can do."

"Shut up." Yuki said quietly, spooning his own mouthful of curry into his mouth.

"Well don't worry, cooking for five isn't that hard." Tohru smiled and slowly began to eat. The curry was a bit...watery...but it wasn't totally bad. She felt when she ate food made by others, she paid more attention to their efforts than the product itself.

"How's your shoulder by the way Tohru-chan?" Haru asked solemnly.

Kyo and Momiji both coughed at his nickname for her, but both grew silent waiting for her answer.

Tohru gulped down her spoon of curry and she shifted her shoulder a bit. Moving it pain shot up to her neck and she winced. Trying to mask the pain on her face, Tohru looked up smiling trying to cover up how much it hurt. "It's...fine. Bearable."

One glance at Kyo let her know that her face had given away her lie. He seemed to disagree with her statement and simply glared at her. She smiled a bit more trying to reassure them and pretended to be preoccupied with her curry.

"Hari said it'll tale a while to heal. But lucky he didn't hit you in the heart Tohru." Momiji commented.

"Yes.."

The two grew silent and the five continued to finish their meal. After the five had finished their lunch, Haru made excuses and went to lay on the couch in the living room, while Yuki and Momiji offered to do dishes. Kyo helped Tohru walk to her room, and he frowned when he saw how she was trying to keep her face from scrunching in pain.

"It's fine really, I don't want to sleep." Tohru frowned, knowing it was futile to try to stop Kyo who was now pushing her back with his hands towards her room.

"At least lay down." He sighed. "And stop acting all strong, it's not helping anyone."

"But-"

"No buts-"

He helped her lay on the futon and began to settle the blankets around her.

Tohru rolled on her side and stared at him as his hair swept over his face as he worked.

"Kyo...do you not like Yuki Sohma? It seems you get along with Haru...but around Yuki-kun you seem very...angry."

Kyo paused his hands still lingering on her blanket, before he drew it away. He looked down and wandered his eyes as if searching for the right words to say.

"There's a bit of a past between us. We don't talk about it to one another."

"Why not?" Tohru said.

"Because if we bring it up...I would definitely end up... " Kyo didn't finish and simply smiled but the smile didn't reach his eyes. Nor did he voice hold any indication of a joke. He was serious.

"I'll sleep now.." Tohru said quietly closing her eyes. She felt a bit of a chill from his words. She knew when Kyo was serious, and he meant it when he said they were on bad terms...

Kyo nodded to her. "Yea...we'll wake you up when it's time for dinner. You can sit and tell us what to do."

"Yea." Tohru smiled imaging it and feeling a bit lighter at the feeling.

...

After Tohru woke up, the doorbell had rung, and a tall slender man with jet black hair covering his left eye appeared. Tohru knew straight away that he was the Sohma doctor due to his doctor's gown and composed features. He was equally as handsome as the other Sohmas', however... he held the air of formalness she felt she couldn't really get by.

"H-Hello." Tohru nodded to him.

"This is Tohru Hari!" Momiji piped up pushing Tohru forward introducing the two.

"Hello." Hatori answered quietly. He ran his eyes down her and kept his face blank and impassive.

Tohru nodded. She felt a bit self conscious around Hatori-san. He was much taller than her.

"I'm your doctor...in request from Kyo." Hatori didn't offer his hand, but he nodded his head slightly indicating previous knowledge of her. "I won't comment on you being here, but I'll simply treat you. Fair enough?"

"Y-yes." Tohru nodded rapidly.

"Don't scare her Hari." Momiji whined a bit but he grinned at the two of them. "Don't worry Tohru, he's like this to everyone. Especially Kyo."

"I see." Tohru smiled and turned her attention to Hatori and attempted a bright smile to him. He simply looked at her in response. "Shall we go?"

"Yes.."

He led her to her room and he closed it behind her. Immediately it seemed his attitude changed, and he brought out his suitcase. Tohru immediately felt like she was with a doctor at a regular clinic.

"What are your symptoms? Any fever? Cough? Cold? You did have a high infection before, but luckily I managed to reduce it.."

"I do feel a lot better thank you." Tohru nodded sitting down in front of him. "And I don't have any other symptoms except I do feel a bit dizzy and feverish once in a while and my feet are extremely cold. And my shoulder aches a lot but a lot less than before."

"I see." Hatori nodded. As she had talked he had brought out his stethoscope. Immediately putting it to her chest, he listened to her heart and she sat still for a moment.

"You seem to be doing fine...a fever is highly predictable in your case. But since you got the aid you needed quicker than anticipated, you were able to heal faster than normal people. However I don't recommend you move around or go anywhere for the time being...even though you will want to leave soon because of Akito." He glanced at her in the eyes as he said the last sentence, and Tohru simply stared back trying to interpret the skepticism in his eyes.

He then removed the stethoscope and began to take out large bandages inside his clinical supplies. "I'll change your bandages. Kyo was doing it fine before, but since I'm able to do it more professionally, it will be less likely to move around or get infected."

"Thank you." Tohru said quietly.

As Hatori began to set about in his work the two were silent for a moment. Wanting to break some of the tension, Tohru asked quietly "Hatori...what does Akito think of me?"

Hatori glanced at her as he began to move her sleeves. "Akito..." He murmured as if it was almost a question.

"And you call him Akito and not Akito-sama like everyone else." Tohru noticed blinking as she realized this.

"Yes...I grew up with him. So he is fairly closer to me." Hatori kept his eyes focused on the work but answered easily.

"Is he...nice?"

"_Nice_ isn't a good word to describe the head of the Sohmas'." Hatori said calmly. He began to remove the bandages on her back and Tohru tried not to wince at the pain of the tape coming off.

"Then...he must probably be very angry at Kyo...and Momiji.."

"Another understatement." Hatori snipped off the ends of the tape holding her bandage together and put it down on the ground next to them. Tohru glanced at it... and wished she hadn't. It was extremely dark red and crusty with her blood.

"He wants nothing to interfere with the system in the Sohmas'." Hatori went on. "You just happened to interfere...or rather Kyo got you involved." At that his voice got a bit kinder.

"But then Kyo and Momiji are still in danger aren't they?"

"Yes..."

"And you're...ok with it?"

Hatori paused his hands holding a tong with a cotton ball at the end soaked with some strong smelling liquid. He looked at her in the eyes for a long moment.

"No. I'm not." He finished. He looked at her deeper in the eyes. "You seem to not be either...for a stranger like you."

"I'm not a stranger to them. To you I guess...but now we're not are we Hatori-san?" Tohru smiled at him.

He took in her expression for a moment and he seemed to slightly smile at her despite himself. "I see..."

He then began to disinfect her wound and re-bandage it.

"I can see why you are close to Kyo and Momiji. You have the face of someone you can easily trust. However...it's also what brought on all of your misfortune."

"I...wouldn't call it misfortune." Tohru murmured.

He turned his jet black eyes to her face. "Do you know everything?"

"Y-yes..?" Tohru hesitated. "About the Sohmas'? The curse?"

"No. Kyo." Hatori said. He finished the last bits of the bandage and helped her put her clothes back together. He then dropped his hands to allow her to finish the rest.

"It seems...Akito-sama treats Kyo in a different manner than Momiji." Tohru said slowly. She began to button up her sleeves as slowly as she could without causing pain in her shoulder. "Is it because Kyo turns into a monster when cursed? Is it really so horrible?"

Hatori's expression didn't change, so Tohru couldn't tell if her questions were bothering him at all, or if they even made sense.

"How much do you know?"

"I know...he said he wouldn't forgive me if I saw him in his cursed form."

"More than that Honda-kun, he would kill you."

"What?" Tohru was frozen. She stared at Hatori feeling all the nerves in her body unable to move.

Hatori narrowed his eyes at her. "I will tell you once, because I feel it is necessary you know so that you don't get in Akito's way. Kyo is a monster. He is the reason the Sohmas' hate the curse. He has three forms. The first human, the second, a monster, and the third, a killer. He has only been turned into his third form twice. The first time he killed an innocent bystander. The second, his own mother."

Tohru bit her lip. Her eyes widened and she felt she couldn't even process the information.

"How...how does he turn into the third...?" She managed to ask.

"If you hug him he turns into a foul creature that no one would dare to get near because of how ugly and nasty he would smell. Just one scent and you could get headaches for up to a month. Not to mention the hallucinations and stomach pains you can get from the shock."

"As for the third..." Hatori gathered the extra materials around them and put it away in his briefcase. He then closed it with a click. "I hope you never see it."

He turned to leave, however Tohru immediately reached out and grabbed the hem of his doctor gown.

"Hatori-san. Please. How does he turn into the third form?"

Hatori stopped. He simply stared ahead at the door and asked quietly. "Why do you need to know?"

"I just..." Tohru let go of his hem and folded her hands together. "I...just.." Tohru swallowed and felt her heart burn from an aching sensation. She always got this feeling when she tried her hardest not to cry or seem weak in front of someone. "I...want to...help him..." She let her words falter to a whisper, knowing as she said it, how selfish and unnecessary she was to the Sohmas'.

Hatori remained silent for a moment. He then turned his eyes onto Tohru his eyes burning with a hidden fire beneath the embers in his eyes.

"Do you love him?" He asked simply.

Tohru blinked at him. She simply stared at him, feeling unable to reply. It took her a moment to realize her mouth had been open in shock.

"There's one thing you need to know Honda-san." Hatori continued when she didn't reply. "Akito doesn't wish to simply kill and capture Kyo and Momiji. He wants to use Kyo in his monster form. There is no way to end the curse, so I suggest you choose whether or not you want to spend the rest of your life following a cursed man...I'm not saying this to scare you. I'm saying this to save you."

With that Hatori left the room and Tohru was left feeling her heart being thrown against her chest in fast beats. She breathed and clutched her hands to her chest.

_"Kyo..._..." She thought in her head. His name repeated over and over, repeatedly inside her head. Beating with her heart. In her mind.

Tohru pressed her hands to her mouth and felt the tears well and flood over her face. Warm hot painful tears. She couldn't breath for how bad she felt...

"_Death...Kyo...the cat...the curse...he killed his own mother..."_

She sobbed wondering what she could do. What could she ever do? Was he just meant to be cursed forever? If Akito would only take Kyo...what could she do and offer him? But what had struck her oddly harder than anything he had said was...

_"Do you love him?"_


	13. Chapter 13

The next day Kyo sensed something was different about the way Tohru was acting around him. Whenever he would glance at her or look up to say something she would immediately snap her head away as if reflex. By midday he was starting to wonder if she was purposely avoiding his gaze. It bothered him how something small...irked him...He was not usually a person to be irked by small things. He also began to notice his eyes travelled to Tohru every once in a while throughout the day. He felt he was becoming too preoccupied...

However, after lunch he almost forgot about his little irks for a little bit until Hatori called during lunch time and informed them that he was coming over once again to check on Tohru. Kyo was surprised that Hatori was so diligently checking on Tohru's wounds despite his earlier points of dissaproval with involving an outsider with the Sohmas'. He wondered if it was because she was too nice to everyone she met.

Finally, the time when Hatori would arrived approached. Kyo stood next to the window, waiting for Hatori to arrive. He always stood out watching in case Akito happened to be using Hatori as a spy. It wasn't that he couldn't trust Hatori. He just knew that Akito was clever...

He glanced at Momiji who was humming while eating snacks and reading a few books. He had his feet propped on the beige silk couch and was laying on a pillow seeming completely at ease. Kyo almost frowned at Momij's nonchalant attitude. He wondered if he was becoming too strict on himself.

Haru and Yuki had gone out to do errands. So the three were alone in Haru's home. He rechecked his memory and realized Tohru would now be doing laundry or something home related.

Straying his eyes back to the window, Kyo wondered in his mind whether or not such relaxing easiness was allowed for them...Momiji had said no comment about moving back to Venice once Tohru was healed. On the contrary Momiji seemed to enjoy living in Haru's house. However, Kyo knew deep down they couldn't stay there forever...where would they go next? And what would they do about Tohru...?

As his thoughts strayed once again to Tohru, Kyo felt himself feel a mixture of different sensations and emotions. He was glad Tohru was with them...but he was also extremely regretful that he had even talked to her that day in Venice. What would have happened if he had simply ignored Tohru when she had offered to reward him for saving her? She wouldn't have gotten shot...she wouldn't have had to run away from her friends...and she most certainly would not be targeted by Akito. Once again, he was ticking off in his head selfish reasons to not get involved with anyone. However, knowing where they were now, he was in too deeply with his relationship with her to get away.

And the fact that she had taken a bullet for him... the moment he had heard the sound of the gunshot, his heart had almost dropped to the depths of his stomach. Out of all the times he had feared something... he had been scared the most that she had...

He stopped and clenched his fists tightly in his hands. He was going too far with this...he couldn't think of her that way. He knew way too well what Momiji thought of Tohru. He also knew way too well that he was no good for her. He was darkness, she was light.

As Kyo shifted his attention back to outside, he realized with relief that a black car had parked outside Haru's gate. He had been growing a bit uneasy when Hatori had taken longer than usual.

He was about to make his way to the door to open it for Hatori, when he stopped at the edge noticing that someone had come out of the car. However, what had stopped him was not the person...but the _color_.

Red. Bright red. A kimono that had been woken with strands of deep gold and black, twisting to wrap itself around the silk garment.

Immediately, it was as if someone had lit a fire on his insides that urged his instincts. His heart beat quickened, and he was no longer thinking in normal pace. At rapid speed the location of Tohru was inched on his mind like a navigation. Kyo was gone from the side of the window panel in a flash and was at Haru's garden in an instant. He caught sight of light blue and humming and he was already behind her grabbing her arm from behind.

Before she could even register what was going on, before she had time to even turn around to see who it even was, Kyo had her mouth covered tightly with his hand. Pulling her away from the garden he ran and took her to the second floor of the house. Opening the first door at the end of the hall, he pulled her inside along with him and shut the door quickly.

Holding up his finger to his lips Kyo brought his eyes down to her. Tohru looked up at him her mouth still covered with hand. She breathed fast, her chest rising up and down at a fast rate, and looked at him in alarm. She questioned him with her eyes, panicked and scared.

"Akito...he's here." Kyo whispered in reply.

Tohru's eyes got even wider at his words and she began to tremble.

"W-What?! Where is he?!"

"He's about to come in the house"

"But...Momiji!"

Kyo shook his head at her. "No time." He whispered back. At that they heard the front door slam open and footsteps enter the house. Kyo and Tohru froze at exactly the same time. The room they were in was extremely small, the side of a closet. And it was almost dark except for the small daylight that crept through the cracks of the door. Kyo immediately grasped the knob of the door with his free hand keeping it firmly shut. His muscles tensed as the two waited in silence.

They then immediately heard a shot and someone hit the ground with a strong thud. Kyo's eyes widened as he became immobile next to her. Tohru blinked once...twice ...and she began to shake.

"It...it's not...him.." Kyo tried to mouth to her. But Tohru only shook her head, her whole body was now shaking as she clenched her hands together. Kyo stared at her. He swallowed not even thinking of moving or saying a word.

"Now, this is unexpected. I expected...Haru and Yuki to be here." They heard the low voice of someone who didn't belong. Someone Tohru had been fearing, and had kept Kyo in his chains. His voice sent a thrill of terror down Tohru's spine. It was slivery, like a feather of venom.

"Poor Momiji. Oh well, where are the maids?"

Tohru shut her eyes feeling tears threaten to spill. She wanted to shut everything out. She wanted Akito to leave...

"If Momiji's here...he wouldn't be alone." Akito murmured. There was the sound of padded footsteps against the bamboo flooring.

"Hatori...get him in the car."

"Yes." Hatori's voice was muted. Unemotional.

"And...Shigure. Want to play a game? Who can find the missing cat?"

"I do like games." Shigure answered. There were more sounds of people moving downstairs. "But I find it strange how uncareful they were...surely they knew you would visit the other Sohmas' one time unexpectedly?"

"Yes...but we have to give Momiji-kun credit for holding out so long." Akito answered in a trill of laughter.

There was more movement and Tohru stiffened in Kyo's arms. She realized at the same time he did, that they were not safe where they were. Sooner or later, Akito or Shigure would open the door, and find the two inside. She turned her eyes onto him in horror.

"What do we do?" She mouthed.

Kyo let go his hand on her mouth and his eyes moved as he racked his head.

"We...have to leave." He murmured against her ear quietly. "Follow me."

Keeping silent, the two waited for a moment before Kyo quietly opened the door half way and led Tohru out into the hallway. The hallway was bright with light, and he closed the door silently behind them to leave no trace. He then grabbed her hand and led her through the house and to the end of the second floor. At the end was a bedroom, and Kyo quietly opened it before leading them inside. In the bedroom was a large window and Kyo led them straight to it.

"We're...climbing out?" Tohru whispered wide-eyed.

"No...we're jumping." He began to creak it open, but by doing so a large sound emitted between the cracks of the sills. The two both froze at the sound.

There was a pause downstairs and Akito commented. "What was that? Did you hear something upstairs?"

"I think I did...it was where Haru's room would be."

"Well...it's probably no mere coincidence." Akito's voice wound its' way into a loud laughter.

Immediately, as if deciding otherwise, Kyo pulled the window all the way open and lifted Tohru by the waist and helped her onto the roof. He then followed after her and grabbed her hand helping her climb up the steep edge.

Tohru heard loud footsteps and tried to hurry and follow Kyo to the edge. As the two finally made their way to the end of the roof, the face of Shigure appeared in front of the large window.

"Ahh...what a sight." He laughed, clapping his hands together.

Kyo didn't stop. He pushed Tohru closer to the edge and jumped before her, landing on the ground with hardly a loud thud. He then sprang to his feet standing fully upright, and held his arms out to her.

"Tohru jump!" He said urgently. "I'll catch you don't worry!"

"But..." Tohru hesitated. Jumping would mean landing in Kyo's arms...that meant she would hug him...She felt a wave of panic at the dilemma she faced.

"HURRY!" He bellowed. His eyes burned as he looked at her with urgency and resolution. Tohru bit her lip and glanced behind her. She immediately saw that Shigure was right behind her climbing his way to her. Seeing no other choice, Tohru ounced her courage, lifted her feet off the roof, and dropped to the ground below.

Tohru felt herself fall hard into Kyo's arms and the impact made both of them fall to the ground. Tohru felt herself go completely on top of Kyo and his arms reach out to protect her from the ground. It was as if something had erupted. One second she felt his strong arms grasp her sides tightly against him, and then suddenly there was smoke everywhere. Not only smoke, but a foul smell that she couldn't even begin to describe with her own mouth. Her eyes burned and stung at the smell and feeling of it. She felt her tongue curl with bile and her eyes were blurry with the thick smoke that obscured her view. Once the smoke had cleared Tohru saw that she was now alone on the grass. Looking around her frantically, what she saw standing next to her made her almost have a heart attack of terror.

It was a monster. A large beast that was rotting from head to foot in a dark slime that emitted smells of dark foulness. It wasn't a cat...it wasn't a bear...it was something much larger and distorted. She searched her eyes burning for his eyes and saw that green orbs had changed to yellow piercing ones with red etched on the edges. The monster had large grey claws that dug at the ground, a tail with three sharp ends, spikes surrounding and sticking out of his protruding figure, and slime...slime was everywhere. It was oozing out of him and oozing to the ground...

"K-k...k!" Tohru tried to talk but talking filled her mouth with the taste of the smell and she gagged on it. She covered her mouth immediately with her hands.

"TOHRU..." He didn't look at her. He didn't even seem to hear her. His eyes grew even more red as the forms and spikes on his back intensified to grow sharper against him. He seemed to slowly seem to lose control...

"GO. GO NOW." He bellowed shrieking into the cold air.

"But...go ...where?!" Tohru gasped. She covered her nose with her other hand. "Where will you go?!"

"GO! JUST RUN AWAY FROM HERE! FORGET ME!" He bellowed. His voice was unlike him. It was the voice of something broken and hoarse running across sheer concrete. It was loud...and terrifying. Tohru had never imagined...

But she couldn't move. Try as she might, her legs wouldn't convince her to move. She felt terrified and rooted to the spot.

"How...disgusting."

Tohru noticed with a start that Shigure had dropped from the roof and stood in front of Kyo's monster form. Right behind him was Akito, who made his way slowly to stand in front of the two of them.

Akito held his hand in front of his face pinching his nose and mouth. He looked slightly green with nausea, and he looked pained as if this was the worst pain on Earth.

"What a monster." He whispered.

"NO!" Kyo bellowed. He lashed his claws out and one struck Tohru against the chest. She was lifted off the ground and flown into the air for a brief second before hitting the ground hard a bit more away from where she had been. She couldn't breathe for a moment because of the impact.

"I SAID GO TOHRU. NOW!"

Tohru struggled to get up. She willed herself to obey Kyo's orders, and was about to take off running when Akito threw something at Shigure. He pointed his arm at Shigure, who held up the object. It was a weapon...

He pointed it to Kyo's monster form.

"No..." Tohru's eyes widened with terror. "NO!"

Akito laughed mechanically. "Ah ah not so fast...stay a bit Tohru-kun."

"NO. GET OUT OF HERE TOHRU!" Kyo bellowed, he thrashed his claws against the ground pulling the dirt out into the air. "GO!"

Fresh hot tears poured down Tohru's face as she still sat frozen to the spot. How could she move?! Leaving Kyo meant he would be gone...just like Momiji...

"Kyo...to see you like this...you disgust me." Akito screamed in the air. He waved his kimono against the air as if to fan himself. "Tohru kun. Now you see?! Now you see why you were never meant to be a part of the Sohmas?' A part of _him_?!"

Tohru stared at Akito, tears still gently falling on her cheeks.

"This is what you get...for loving a _monster_." Akito bellowed.

Kyo let out a shriek of fury and moved. He lunged after Akito. Tohru screamed as Shigure made his way across the field charging his gun.

Shigure shot Kyo in the leg and Kyo doubled over stopping only meters away from clawing Akito's face.

"Kyo!" Tohru screamed.

"You dare..." Akito scrunched his eyes and they were wide with pure fury.

Tohru sobbed clenching her hands to her mouth. "Stop! I beg you! Please!"

"Stop? I'm not doing anything." Akito pointed to Kyo his eyes full of revulsion. "It's all this monster's fault..."

"Please I'll do anything, just don't harm him anymore!" Tohru pleaded. She found she could now stand, and she made her way to Akito holding her hands up.

"NO. YOU STUPID-"

Another shot.

"Urgh..."

"Don't worry two shots won't kill him in his monster form." Shigure said nonchalantly. He waved his smoking gun in the air. "But I wish he could warn us before making this horrid smell." He pinched the bridge of his nose with his hands squinting his eyes at them.

"PLEASE." Tohru made her way to stand before Akito. She felt her tears spill over her cheeks, but she faced him defiant and staring straight into his eyes. Akito smirked at her. He dropped his hand that had been holding his nose and mouth shut. He shot his hand forward and grabbed her neck with his free hand. Clenching it Tohru gasped at the pain of his sharp nails digging into the sides. She couldn't breathe..

Twisting his hold on her neck, Akito made her face Kyo.

"See this? You little worthless bitch?" He whispered in her ear. "That's not your friend. He never loved you. He will never be the same as you. You can _never_ be together, and deep down you know how worthless he is."

Tears still felt around the edges of her eyes. She stared at Kyo pleading to him as well to leave if he could. He simply looked at her, disformed and red. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. She couldn't even tell where he was looking...his eyes were bright and wide glass orbs that were frozen in time..

"Will you give him up? Will you say it back to me Tohru kun? Kyo is a worthless monster"

"Kyo is a worthless monster." Tohru whispered immediately. She shut her eyes closed feeling even more tears now spring in her eyes. She knew she had to or else he would continue to hurt Kyo...he would continue to shoot him...

"Good. Kyo is disgusting. I hate him."

"K-Kyo is...d-disgusting. I-I hate him." Tohru sobbed. She clenched her mouth now feeling her insides burn in pain.

"Fuck him."

"F-...f-.." tohru gasped trying to finish. "him...F-...fu.." She felt Akito throw her to the side, and she felt herself slam to the ground. She rolled in pain, her shoulder bursting with the fresh pain of the impact.

"Let's leave Shigure. Make sure you follow Kyo..."

Tohru heard the clack of something pointed towards her direction. Next thing she knew a large roar had filled her ears. It was deafening and so large that her ears burned at the sound. She knew it had been Kyo. She choked and tried to tell him it was alright but only pain answered her efforts.

She heard thuds, but was unable to haul herself off the ground. She couldn't even make her eyes make out what was clearly happening. She stared as she made out Kyo's large figure. He hesitated for a fraction of a second, then in a large burst of speed he sprung into the air and broke the garden fence with his front claws. He then disappeared into the woods running in the opposite direction of the house. Shigure lowered the gun when Kyo was long gone, and Akito smirked in satisfaction. "Let's go. Good bye Tohru. Let's meet again...with Kyo..."

Then Akito and Shigure had left...and soon silence was the only thing remaining in the garden...

Tohru lay on the ground, her cheek pressed against the hard dirt and grass. She tried to move her shoulder several times, but found that it was far too painful to move. So she lay there...and trying again and again to get up, yet failing in the process. She felt she was out of tears...but droplets continued to remain etched as if a reminding memory of what had just happened.

In the midst of her struggles, Tohru replayed the images of Kyo's form in her mind. Akito's words...of what had just happened...had Kyo surrendered himself so that she wouldn't be killed? Like how she had blocked his bullet? He had been shot twice...and in his legs...what did Akito want with his monster form?!

After what seemed like ages, Tohru's energy had been long since gone, and she almost felt herself break out of a trance as two gentle hands went around her arms and began to help her up.

It took her a moment to finally realize that the person who was helping her up was Yuki. He said nothing, but simply swung her into his arms and carried her inside.

Haru silently waited in front of the garden watching the two, and helped her inside to the living room along with Yuki and the two took her to her room laying her on the futon.

"I'll call a doctor." Haru said quietly and left the room.

Yuki nodded and gathered the blankets around Tohru and moved her hair out of her face. He looked down her body and noticed it was heavily bruised, but that her shoulder was once again bleeding.

"Honda-san...where's Kyo and Momiji?" He asked seriously.

"A-Akito..." Tohru gasped quietly. She clutched her rib feeling the pain of talking. She thought maybe her sides hurt because of the impact of Kyo's claws.

"Did he kill them?" Yuki asked hushed.

Tohru shut her eyes tightly. She didn't answer him, but merely shook her head, fresh tears now spilling. She felt a bit delirious because of the pain..

"I see..." Yuki knelt down putting his face near hers. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Rest...we're calling Hatori for advice on your shoulder. We'll figure this out."

Tohru nodded trying to convey her gratitude. She felt Yuki get up and leave the room after quietly shutting the door behind him.

"She's in pain. What did Hatori say?" Yuki asked urgently as he met Haru in the hallways.

"He's coming." Haru said looking worried. "Did she say where Momiji and Kyo went?"

"I think they're alive for now...she said Akito was here."

"That explains all the ruckus.." Haru took an intake of breath in anger. "Stay with her...I'll go to the Main house."

"No..Haru." Yuki grabbed Haru's arm. "That's illogical. In a situation like this Akito will only use you to.."

"I know. I don't give a shit." Haru yanked his arm out of Yuki's hands. "I'm not waiting for Kyo to come home again. I'm not making the same mistake as I did with Rin with Momiji."

Yuki swallowed and let go of Haru's arm in defeat.

"Ok..."

Haru left. Tohru closed her eyes and felt herself drift off. Her mind went hazy and clouded. After what felt like hours, Tohru opened her eyes and saw that the room was the same as it always had been, except now Yuki was in the corner, slowly drifting asleep.

She then heard the front door slam open. For one crazy moment, she thought it was Kyo, back from running off, and hope swelled into her heart. However, it wasn't Kyo but Hatori. As soon as he was inside the house he was at Tohru's side, pulling her blankets away and examining her wounds.

"H-hatori." Tohru coughed. She began to frantically try to get up. "A-Akito! Did he use you?! Did he trick you?! Please don't tell me you gave us away-!"

Yuki awoke at the sounds of the ruckus and he immediately went to sit next to them keeping silent as he watched Hatori get out medical materials.

"Calm down." Hatori pushed her back down so that she was laying down fully. His voice was full of strained patience and regret. He began to pull her shirt out of the way to examine her shoulder. As he began to snip away the bandages it was silent for a moment, and Tohru tried to regain her composure at the fresh pain in the wound.

"No, he wasn't supposed to come." He said finally. "No one knew."

"Did you bring him?" Yuki asked hushed.

"I didn't...I couldn't do anything." Hatori answered. "I was about to leave when Akito went inside my car. He asked me where I was going, and I replied my clinic. He then said he would follow me to the clinic. However, the driver didn't take us to my clinic, but directly to your house. Before I could stop him, Akito was out of the car and he had a key as well...He knew I had been lying.."

"Did he suggest something?" Yuki asked seriously.

"No...I think he was genuinely guessing that you guys were here. He makes regular rounds to the others homes, especially Kagura's and Ayame's. He just happened to choose Haru's home today...and he was suspicious I was going out so much to visit you guys..."

"Where's Kyo and Momiji then..." Yuki asked.

"Kyo ran off. He was in his second beast form, since he was catching Tohru while trying to escape. And Momiji...he was taken to the main house."

"He's not dead?" Tohru gasped and she felt Hatori straighten her back with the palm of his hand.

"No...he's alive. They only stunned him."

"Thank goodness.." Tohru whimpered. She trembled but felt immense relief.

"Tohru...your wound is starting to bleed again...at this rate maybe you should go to the hospital. Akito already knows you're here...

"No.." Tohru said immediately. "I have to go the main house. We have to get the police. Or find some way to get Kyo and Momiji back..."

Hatori finished re-bandaging her shoulder, helped her pull her sleeves back down, and helped her sit upright.

She breathed fast as she sat upright and clutched at her shoulder. "We have to-"

"Tohru." Hatori looked straight into her eyes. "There's nothing left to do...Akito has them."

Tohru froze and she stared at his eyes for any sign of hope, of reassurance or lies. But there was nothing. Nothing but emptiness in the dark orbs that reflected her blue ones.

...

Haru arrived at the main house knowing the weather had changed while he had been mobile. It was always chilly when he came here...

He made his way to the buzzer and stuck out his finger at it.

"Hello?" A female voice asked.

"Haru Sohma." He stated nonchalantly. He was already starting to get pissed...this was not good.

The buzzer immediately sounded, and the gate opened. He stepped inside almost expecting a bunch of guardsmen grab him...but there was none. It was eerily empty and quiet. This was better still..

Making his way all the way down the vast Main house garden front and to the front door gates, he opened them and made his way inside the large mansion.

Several servants bowed welcoming him inside, offering to take his coat, but he refused their gestures and made his way directly to Shigure's office.

Slamming it open he frowned in disgust at the smell of smoke in the air. Shigure was in his office chair, casually leaning against it with his feet propped onto his desk. His glasses were on and his hair swept as he held a small novel between his hands.

"You look casual." Haru commented coldly.

Shigure didn't glance up from his novel, but he spoke his mouth curving into a smile. "So I'm guessing you're here for Momiji...or is it Kyo?"

"Neither. I'm here asking for what Akito wants."

"What Akito wants?" Shigure sighed and took off his glasses. Setting them down onto the table he glanced at Haru who still stood at the door, with his arms clenched to his sides.

"You know what he wants Haru. Surely you're not so dumb as to think Akito was a poor aim in shooting the gun?"

It was dead silent for a minute. Haru glared at Shigure, his eyes frozen and hard. "What do you mean..."

"Think...he doesn't need Momiji. So Momiji was taken out. What about Kyo?"

"He's using Kyo's third form later isn't he." Haru finally said. He had known it. He had just dreaded and wished it hadn't been true.

"Yes.." Shigure frowned. "Now that I think about it it's been a while since I've seen it as well...ever since he killed his moth-"

Immediately his words caught as Haru's hands clenched around his neck. He spit and choked turning red. Several servants cried out in alarm and threw themselves onto Haru trying to stop him but failing at his great strength.

"Die. Don't say anything more out of that filthy mouth of yours." He warned in a chilling tone.

He then let go of his hold on Shigure and began to shrug his way out.

"One more thing." Shigure calmed down the servants who were rapidly easing him back to a standard sitting position. He massaged his neck but otherwise looked a bit amused.

"Akito wants Tohru to come by tomorrow night...for dinner. Tell her that for me would you?"

Haru stopped walking away, but didn't turn around. He clenched his fists tightly feeling the veins in his arm pound. "Where's Momiji..."He asked instead.

"Fine fine. Resting. In his room. You will tell her right? Haru-san..."

"What are you going to do with Momiji..."

"If Tohru comes we'll tell her that as well...she'll be safe."

"Of course." Haru turned and smiled mockingly at Shigure. "Of course you'll keep her safe..." His mouth curved downwards and he glared at him in fury as he spit out the words. "Like how you did with Rin.."

Then Haru turned his back on him and left. He didn't see anything. Not the maids, or the servants that were trying to ask him to stay for a goddamn cup of tea...

_"Haru...I will protect you.."_ Her words rang in his mind once more. As if she had never left to begin with.

...

Hello readers! This is Diane. Sorry for the slow updates. I'm in college, and of course the studying does take up most of my free time i have so many ideas and new things in store, but i will assure you to keep updating as much as i can~! Thanks for your patience and until then (:


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